If It Makes You Happy
by TwistedHopelessRomantic
Summary: AU. Lacey Porter is a 22 year old recent college grad and engaged to the love of her life or so she thinks. She thought coming home for the summer would be fun, but being back in the same town as Danny Desai is not as easy as she thought it would be. Both marked by a complicated past are trying to figure out what makes them happy and whether or not it involves one another.
1. chapter 1

**So I've been working on this Au Dacey Fic for quite a while. With all the positive feedback from my first story "When We Were Young" I decided to write another. My previous URL was TwistedForSocio. But anyway, I actually love the flow of this one since I already have a few chaps written. It involves lots of characters twisted ones and of course made up ones because it's Au. So,I'm starting with a short prologue for a little background since in present time, they're adults. Ok, Hope You Like It! **

_Prologue_

Danny heard pounding at the door. It was almost midnight and he was home alone. He wondered who it could be at this time of night. Flinging the door open, visibly pissed Lacey before him with her arms folded. "Lacey, what's wrong? Why are you here so late?"

"You're leaving tomorrow," she said lacking al feeling and emotion.

"Yes, you know that. It's the reason me, you and Jo spent the day together. You're supposed to come by tomorrow to say goodbye," He said confused by her anger. "Why are you upset?"

"Ever since what happened with your aunt, I've been patient with you. I agreed to give you your space only because I know how hard this past moth has been for you, even though you barely talk to me about it. And I was getting used to the idea of your leaving, but then I found out it was your idea—that you begged them to move to Florida. All this time, you made me believe it was your parents' decision. Why?"

"How did you—?"

"Know that? It doesn't matter. What matters is that it's true. I just want to know why you lied."

He could tell she honestly needed to know why he begged his parents to take him away from green grove, but he didn't know why it mattered. This time tomorrow, he'd be gone. "Lacey just come in and I'll explain."

She followed him into the now empty house. Everything had already either been driven by his parents to Florida during the weekend or sold during their yard sale. It was just him and some things in his room left in the house.

"There's nowhere to sit down here. Would you like to come up to my room?" he asked.

"No, we can sit on the stairs right here." She sat down and waited for him to join her. After he sat, she waited for him give her an explanation. "You know I can't be here all night."

"Lacey I know you're mad, but you need to know my wanting to leave Green Grove has nothing to do with you." He could see the relief flooding from her face. "That's what you thought didn't you. God Lace, why would you think that?"

"Can you really blame me Danny? After things calmed down, you told me you didn't want to be in a relationship anymore. At that point, we were already struggling to hold a decent conversation so I didn't fight you on it. And now you want to leave our home—the only place we've ever been lived." The breaking of her voice was evident of the emotion she was feeling. "I can only believe the reason you want to go is because I wasn't a good enough girlfriend to help you through this or worse—not a good enough friend."

He watched as she wiped the tears from her eyes and he struggled to hold back his own. He hated himself for making her feel like she wasn't enough for him, especially when the only thing he was sure of right now at the age of 16 was his love for her.

He moved closer to her and wiped her tears away with his own hand and he forced her to look at him. "Lace I need you to not think that. I need you to know how much I love you, more than anything, more than myself. And that scares me. Right now, I feel like I'm not whole enough to give you what you deserve. I need to get away from here and try to hold on to the good memories instead of the bad ones. This stuff with Aunt Tara is sucking me alive—draining the life out of me. Her face is all I see when I go to sleep. I think that if I leave, I can start to heal—not only for myself, but for my parents and you." He held her hands tighter. "I want you to have as much of the old Danny back as possible. So you see I'm not doing this because of you; I'm doing it for you."

Now she hated herself for trying to twist his desire to leave into something bad. Even though he was going through a hard time right now, she knew he would never willingly hurt her. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come here and made you explain that to me. Now I feel even worse than I had before."

"I don't want you to feel bad. I'm glad you came to me about it. I was a coward and I should've told you everything. I'm sorry," he said while giving her a hug. "I could stay like this forever, ya know."

"The selfish part of me wants to beg you to stay, but I know you have to go."

He pulled back from their hug and held her face in their hands. "I'm coming back. I don't when, but I am. I promise."

She smiled and she wanted him to kiss her, in fact he almost did until she stood up to go. "I don't want to do this. I know how you feel and you know how I feel, but we've been friends for a while and I want to keep it that way. If you come back, we'll have our whole lives to be together."

He stepped closer to her, now regretting ever breaking up with her. All he wanted to do was feel her lips on his one last time. "There is no If. Lacey I'm coming back. I made a promise and I'm going to keep it."

"I look forward to that," she said in a hopeful tone. "I'm going to go. You need your sleep for the long drive tomorrow."

"You're still coming by tomorrow, right?"

"Jo and I will be here. I'm going to be right here Danny—until the minute you guys drive out of my sight." She kissed him on the cheek and promised she'd see him tomorrow.

On her short drive home, she cried all the tears she could. She wanted to be strong for Danny tomorrow, because she'd bet her own life that this move was 10x harder for Danny than it was for her. Tomorrow, she wouldn't be difficult, she wouldn't cry and she wouldn't appear broken. She was going to smile and be a supportive friend as she watched the person she loved the most in this world left the one place she always thought she'd be able to find him, Home.

**Ok. That's the prologue. So we're going to find out how long it took Danny to get back to Green Grove. And we'll definitely find out within 2 chapters what happened with Aunt Tara in detail. It's slightly different than in Twisted. The only two similarities are that she is dead and that it concerns Danny. You'll see but feel free to try and guess. Please Review, should I continue?! Thanks, XO**


	2. Chapter 2

**6 years later…**

As Lacey Porter sat on the airplane, she stared down at the ring on her left hand and she felt something she shouldn't—doubt. At this point in the engagement, she was supposed to be absolutely sure Julian Ashford was the person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. The invitations were sent, the church was booked—every little detail set in stone, but here she was contemplating whether this was what she really wanted. Julian made her happy and he saved her life in more ways than one. Lacey wanted nothing more than to stop feeling unsure about the wedding and she usually ended up telling herself it was cold feet, which is what all brides-to-be experienced. She was getting married to Julian and nothing—or no one was going to change her mind.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by an elderly woman sitting next to her. "That's a beautiful ring. Are you already married?"

"Um No—I'm engaged. I'm getting married at the end of next month. 3 weeks after that I'll be starting Medical School." Lacey didn't know why she added the med school part in, but she was really excited about going—that she was sure of.

"Congratulations on everything. He's a lucky one; you seem like a smart young lady."

Lacey smiled at the old woman's nice words. "Thank you. He's great, I'm lucky too. We're really excited about everything."

"When my daughter got married, it was one of the best days of my life. Dave was her high school sweetheart and everybody knew they were meant to be together. When they got married, everyone kept saying finally. Is that how it is with you and your fiancé?"

"No, we've only been dating for two years but I feel like I've known him for longer than that." Lacey admitted.

"Well that's good too. We can't all have that one great love who we meet when we're young. Sometimes it takes some of us a while to find our soul mates. I wish you two all the happiness that the married life offers and good luck in Med School."

"Thank you so much," Lacey said as the pilot came on the speaker to announce their impending landing. She couldn't help but think about the woman's words about soul mates and high school sweethearts. She'd only been in love one time in high school and that didn't end well.

…

Lacey was annoyed by her sister's phone conversation with her boyfriend, but she thought better of passing judgment because she was the same way with Danny in high school. At the thought of his name, she grew nervous thinking about when she'd first run into him.

She turned to her sister as she finally got off the phone. "It's nice to know you can make time for me."

"Come on Lacey, Greg's away working at the camp, so we barely get to talk. Give me a break, you'll be here all summer and I just saw you at your graduation."

Lacey rolled her eyes. "Whatever and where are you going? This isn't the way to our house. "

Clara grew a smile on her face and looked away. "Don't be mad, but we're going to Johnny Cakes—for lunch."

"No we're not, are you crazy? You know Danny is the owner of Johnny Cakes, which means you're either trying to cause trouble or trying to make me mad—maybe even both."

"Look I want a BLT and Johnny Cakes makes the best. They still have their signature shakes. I know you want one." she said saying the last part as if she were singing.

Maybe Lacey had been craving a Johnny Cakes shake, but it didn't mean today was the day to get one. As a matter of fact today was absolutely not the day to get one. "Clara, I am not kidding. Turn this car around."

Clara turned up the radio and kept driving. They were there in less than 5 minutes and Lacey huffed as her sister parked the car. "Just get your BLT to go and I'll wait out here."

"No I'd like to have a sit down lunch with my big sister, we have to catch up." Clara said deviously.

Lacey shot her sister a disbelieving look. "Do you really want me to believe that?"

"You have no choice." Clara looked at Lacey who hadn't moved from her spot. "Fine then stay out here; I'll just send Danny to the car."

Lacey sneered at her sister. "You wouldn't."

"Try me," Clara said as she slammed the door walking towards Johnny Cakes.

Lacey couldn't take any chances by calling Clara's bluff. With a quick glance in the mirror, she hopped out of the car, and prepared herself to see Danny.

Once Inside, Lacey immediately noticed the changes to Johnny Cakes. She hadn't been there since last Christmas, but Danny returned to Green Grove in January and had it remodeled. It was still hard to believe he owned the place where they had so many good times.

She was greeted by some of her old teachers, and some of her mom's friends, but there was no sign of Danny—yet. They grabbed a back booth and soon after a waitress came to take their order.

"So…are you ready for senior year? Have you thought about what colleges you want to attend?" Lacey bombarded her sister with questions mostly out of nervousness.

"Yeah I'm on top of things. Don't worry. Have you talked to dad lately?"

Lacey was bothered by her sisters changing of the subject, especially since she dragged her somewhere she didn't want to be. "I talked to him before I got on my flight. He says he barely talks to mom anymore."

"Yeah well can you blame her? If I found out my ex-husband was dating a man, I'd need some time to get used to it too." Clara said bitterly. "I think she thought there was a chance they'd get back together."

"So did I, but If dad's happy that's all that matters. Mom will find someone."

"Yeah she—" Clara stopped as she saw Danny coming through the door with Sam, one of the waitresses. There'd been rumors that they were dating, but Danny was always quick to say they were just friends. "Lacey umm—Danny just walked in."

Lacey felt her stomach twist into knots and her mouth suddenly grew dry. She thought for a minute she'd actually be able to get out of Johnny Cakes without seeing him, but of course he could walk in anytime he wanted—he owned the place.

Sam went to work immediately behind the counter and Danny spotted Clara after he got through talking to a customer.

Clara smiled at him while warning Lacey he was on his way over to their table.

"Remind me to kill you later," Lacey said in a low tone.

Danny reached the table saying hello to Clara but he was taken aback by the woman sitting across from her. "Lacey," he said in disbelief.

"Hello Danny," she said while standing and giving him a quick hug. "It's good to see you. How are you?"

"I'm great. It's really good to see you— you look beautiful."

Lacey felt herself blushing. "Thanks you look good too…this place is so nice, I love what you've done with it."

"Thank you. It's nice being the owner of a place that I've had a lot of great memories in." There was an awkward silence. "We should catch up. Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?"

"Um I don't know. I just got off an airplane and I'm really tired so I'll probably knock out early."

Danny frowned a little. "That's too bad. I'd have lunch with you now, but I don't want to interrupt your time with Clara."

"Actually you're not interrupting. I need to go pick up my friend from work, so she's all yours. I'll drop your stuff off at the house." Clara didn't even give Lacey a chance to disagree with the sudden change of plans. She grabbed her BLT to go and left the diner.

Danny could see how uncomfortable Lacey was. "I understand if you don't want to stay. I'm not forcing you or—"

"No Danny it's ok. I can get my shake to go and we can take a walk. I'm not really hungry and I've been sitting long enough."

Her willingness to spend the afternoon with him made him happy. "Great, let's go."

She waited while Danny told his employees he was leaving for a while and as they walked out she noted the unpleasant look one of the waitresses gave her. She wondered what it was about, but she was sure it had something to do with Danny.

…

She would never admit out loud how being this close to Danny aroused many emotions inside of her. She was happy, anxious, and sad. Their past was marked by tragedy, which caused Danny to leave Green Grove and some of it—most of it she'd rather forget.

Starting off on their walk, he received two calls which were about the diner. She listened as he ordered supplies for diner and talked business. She smiled at how grownup he sounded. She missed his voice—she missed him.

"Ok I'm cutting my phone off. Sorry for the interruptions; I only took them because they were about business." Danny said apologetically.

"Please don't apologize, I understand." She paused. "I was surprised to learn you owned Johnny Cakes. I never thought Mr. Foster would sell."

"That makes two of us. After I settled back in Green Grove and started looking for work, he nearly begged me to buy it. He lowered the asking price just for me—said he wanted someone he could trust."

"Well it looks like he made the right decision. The place looks great and the customers seem satisfied."

Danny smiled at Lacey's words. "Thanks. When I first started I had no idea what I was doing and I came close to giving it all up, but coming here I promised myself I wouldn't do that again." He stared at Lacey intensely. "I gave up on something once and I've regretted it ever since."

She felt the heat rush to her face. He was referring to how easily he gave up on their relationship, which is something she could agree with.

"Well I'm glad you didn't give up again. I can see how much the place makes you happy. Your employees seem to like you." She paused and added, "Some more than others."

Danny looked at Lacey. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I think one of your waitresses likes you or maybe you're already in a relationship with her I don't know. All I know is that when we left together, she didn't look so happy."

"Can you describe this waitress?"

"She was the one closer to the front. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, really slim."

"I'm sure you're talking about Sam. She's my friend from Florida. She moved here to get away from her ex-boyfriend. I sometimes help her out; giving her a job at the diner was one way. There is nothing going on between us."

"If you say so, but she's definitely got a thing for you. Girls don't just give those looks unless they're jealous." Lacey said with certainty.

"Well it sounds to me like you're jealous of Sam's maybe feelings for me and this is your way of telling me you want me all to yourself. Don't worry I'm all yours." He said clearly joking.

She grew quiet. He definitely was never one for subtlety; he'd always made his feelings for her known and usually in a joking manner to play off how serious he was.

Danny realized she didn't like what he had said. "Did I say something wrong?"

"I would appreciate it if you didn't accuse me of being jealous especially since I'm engaged. Rumors spread fast in this town and we wouldn't want people getting the wrong idea." Lacey said angrily.

After walking in silence for a while, they settled on a bench in McNally Park. Danny was afraid he had ruined the afternoon and he figured he'd better apologize. "You're right. Considering our past, I shouldn't joke about their being an "us"…I'm sorry."

"It's ok. I overreacted really." She turned to him. "You did know right?—that I was getting married."

Of course he knew. He struggled to forget the moment when Clara told him. She stopped by the diner one day and as usual he had asked how Lacey was. He still remembered her exact words _she's fine, great actually, she just got engaged._ He felt like he'd been punched in the stomach, betrayed by his best friend. He didn't know why, because he was the one that left her. It's not like she promised to wait for him. She moved on with her life and he hated himself for being mad at her.

"Yes. Clara told me. Congratulations, I'm happy for you." he lied.

"Thanks Danny."

"I just can't believe it, Jo's married to Rico and now you're getting married. I remember when we used to play house when we were little. Remember we'd always make Jo be the daughter."

"Or the son," Lacey said laughing.

Danny laughed at the memory but his face turned serious. "So you're happy then? He makes you happy?"

She felt like he was expecting her to say no. "I am happy. Julian makes me happy and I'm excited about our life together."

Her words stung, but he mustered up a fake smile. "Good, your happiness is what's important." He forced himself to sound a little more enthusiastic so he'd be more believable. "So where is Julian?"

"I flew in. He's going to drive up with the rest of our stuff tomorrow."

"Well I look forward to meeting him. You should bring him by the diner."

Lacey thought about how uncomfortable that would be especially since Julian didn't know the full nature of her relationship with Danny, but she knew they would have to meet at some point. "I'm sure you'll get to meet him one of these days." She looked at her phone. "Listen I've got to get going. Julian's going to Skype me soon, so I should be home. I'll see you around ok."

He stood just as she did. "Do you need a ride or something?"

"No it's ok; it's only a 10 minute walk to my house." He of all people knew that as many times as they'd snuck out for secret meetings and he'd walk her back home.

"Right, just be careful. I'll see you later."

She knew Danny was disappointed that she was leaving, but she was scared their conversation would become all about them and though she knew it was unavoidable; she wasn't ready for that yet.


	3. Chapter 3

Lacey stumbled out of bed the next morning and came into the kitchen to find her mother cooking breakfast and her sister sitting at table. She loved being home; it made her feel less like an adult who had to make grownup decisions.

"Good morning mom." She looked at her sister and with an icy tone said, "Clara."

Clara laughed. "Oh don't tell me you're still mad about yesterday. We both know if you didn't want to hang out with him you wouldn't have."

Her mom looked at the two of them for an explanation. "Is someone going to tell me what's going on?"

"Your daughter tricked me into going to Johnny Cakes and then she ditched me and I was left alone with Danny."

"Oh mom it's not as one sided as it sounds. I didn't drag her out the car; she could've walked home or she just left when I did." She looked at Lacey. "If you think about it, I really saved you from an awkward reunion. So, you're welcome."

Lacey rolled her eyes. "Trust me it was still awkward. And he still has to meet Julian."

"Oh I'll buy a ticket to that show. Guy who you're still in love with meets the guy you're engaged to." Clara giggled at the sight of Lacey's eyes widening.

Judy Porter huffed in frustration. "Clara that's enough…Give your sister a break."

"I'm only stating facts mom."

Lacey was already fed up with her sister's smart mouth and she'd only been home for one day. "Clara shut up. That's why Greg is probably hooking up with one of the camp counselors."

"I won't get mad at that only because I know it's not true and because that's the denial in you talking." Clara stood and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl. "I'd love to stay and chat, but work calls. I'll see you guys later."

"But sweetheart I'm making pancakes." Ms. Porter called out. All she heard was the slamming of the front door letting her know Clara was already gone.

"Are you sure she's related to us? It's ok you can tell me the truth?" Lacey said clearly joking.

"She's a Porter alright. Her mouth just has no filter and she says what she thinks. It'll come in handy if she chooses the lawyer route. Surely she wouldn't break my heart like you did."

And there it was Lacey thought. Her mother always wanted her to go into law but Lacey's passion was medicine and science. She could find the cure to cancer and her mother still wouldn't be satisfied.

Judy noticed her daughter's sudden silence and immediately regretted her last words. "I'm sorry sweetheart. I didn't really mean that. I'm extremely proud of your accomplishments. Getting into medical school is an honor. You know I'm just partial to the law field."

"Yes I do. Thanks mom."

"Alright now I have to get to work. Breakfast is done. What time is Julian supposed to get here?"

"I'm not sure, probably later this afternoon. You know it's a short drive from D.C. to New York so I told him not to rush."

"Ok well I hope to be home for dinner tonight." Judy kissed her daughter goodbye and left.

…

Lacey had time to kill so she focused on unpacking the rest of her suitcase. She was grateful her mother gave them the basement living area downstairs so they could have their own privacy. She didn't feel comfortable being intimate with Julian under the same roof as her mom and sister but it made it a little better that they were separated by a whole level.

She decided she'd go out to the garage and look at some old photos from when she was younger. Her mother was sort of a hoarder, but Lacey liked that about her. Reaching for photo albums off the shelf; she first found some pictures of herself, her mom, dad and sister.

As she went through other albums there were tons of pictures with her, Danny, and Jo. They really were inseparable and their moms never hesitated to take a group photo. Danny was always in the middle with the girls on either side of him. She missed the old days with them and she was quickly reminded that they'd all be in Green Grove for the first time in almost 7 almost years when Jo came for the wedding. Jo was Lacey's maid of honor and even though she didn't send Danny an invite; she was sure he'd want to come. Or maybe he didn't, she thought.

Lacey came upon a photo from when Danny's Aunt Tara took them ice skating. It was a couple months before—before she had killed herself. Tears streamed down her face at the memory of that day. It started out being a normal Saturday, at least for her until her parents sat her down and told her the god-awful news; Danny murdered his aunt. To the police it seemed that way, because he was spending the weekend at her house while his parents were out of town but he was nowhere to be found when the police arrived at the scene. Lacey remembered feeling like her life was over that morning, because the boy she was in love with was being accused of murder and he made it worse by running away. He looked guilty and she almost convinced herself that he was. For a whole week they didn't know where he was. She could barely sleep without worrying about his safety, whether he was eating or even still alive. It wasn't until police collected evidence that ruled her death a suicide and they put it all over the news hoping Danny would see and come home. And he did. The police still had to interrogate him, and he told them he ran away, because he was just scared they would think he did it. She remembered begging her parents to take her to see him—she'd never been so happy to see one person in her whole life.

The weeks after didn't get easier though. Danny started to pull away from Lacey and everyone around him. Thinking he was traumatized from finding his aunt dead; they gave him his space, but it shocked Lacey when he told her he was leaving Green Grove. Worse—that he asked his parents if they could leave Green Grove. Even though he assured her it had nothing to do with her, she felt like she had been a bad girlfriend. They were best friends before anything, which made it even harder to say goodbye. Over the months and years it went from everyday calls and texts to monthly chats to no communication at all. And here they were 6 years later—back in Green Grove, at the same time.

She heard a horn from inside the garage and quickly put the photos back in their place. Julian was here. She opened the front door just as he rang the bell and he picked her up off the ground, pulling her into a tight hug.

"That was the longest drive of my life without my road trip buddy." He put her down and grabbed her face to give her a passionate kiss. "I missed you babe. How are you?"

"I missed you too Julian. I'm good, glad you're here." Lacey said solemnly.

"Really, you don't seem happy." He studied her face. "Lacey have you been crying? What's wrong?"

"It's fine—I'm fine. I promise. Come on I'll help with the bags and we can go out for lunch." Lacey said wiping her eyes as she followed Julian to the car, trying her hardest to fight the thoughts of somebody who wasn't her fiancé.


	4. Chapter 4

**Taking a quick sec to thank everyone for your lovely reviews, and I assure you even though we've met Julian, this story will involve plenty of Dacey, and so we'll see more of Lacey struggling with her love for both men. Thanks again, xo.**

Since her mom and sister were going to be working a lot this summer, Lacey figured she'd better get some experience inside a hospital before starting medical school. She'd also have some days alone whenever Julian had to go back to D.C. to do business with his father. She figured volunteering with sick kids would be better than sitting around the house all day.

This morning she'd had breakfast with Julian and he dropped her off at Green Grove Hospital, because he had to go to one of the hotels in the city and handle some things. She liked that Julian got a degree in case he didn't want to go into the hotel business with his father, who promised him he always had a career with Ashford Hotels. Lacey knew deep down he wanted to join the family business, but thankfully he promised to keep his options open. She was glad to see him trying to live outside of his father's shadow.

As soon as she entered the hospital, she set out to find the medical director with whom she spoke to about volunteering. She was nervous because of all the sick kids and she thought maybe they wouldn't like her. She had to remind to herself that in a couple years this would be her everyday life, so she had to get experience somehow.

After the woman introduced her to all of the patients and some of their families, they proceeded to talk about the patients and each of their illnesses. She described in detail how the emotional setting varies for each kid day to day. When she was finished talking, she asked Lacey if she was sure she'd be able to handle the environment and Lacey replied yes.

Lacey went back to her first room, taking a deep breath before entering. _You can do this Lace_ she said to herself. She walked in and saw a little girl crying as she was getting shots and she figured it'd be best if she came back later. Unfortunately, the next two rooms' patients were sleep and she prayed the little girl next door would be up for company. Thankfully, she was up and reading. Lacey went up to her, hoping her nervousness wasn't showing.

"Hey I'm Lacey. Remember we met little while ago." Lacey waited for the girl to respond but she got no answer. She was a little offended that the girl just ignored her and kept reading her book. The last thing Lacey was going to do was bother someone who didn't want to be bothered so she turned around, heading for the door.

To her surprise, the little girl spoke to her just before she crossed the threshold. "Hey where are you going? I hope you're not quitting already."

"No. It—It's just you didn't say anything so I thought I'd come back or something." Lacey said nervously.

"I wasn't ignoring you silly. I had one more page and I didn't want to break my concentration."

Lacey smiled. "Oh Right. Well as I was saying I'm Lacey Porter."

"I believe that's your third time introducing yourself. You're Lacey, I've got it. My name is Melanie; most people just call me Mel or Lanie for short. I like Lanie better—call me Lanie." The girl said smiling.

Lacey shook her head in understanding. "Ok Lanie, so where'd your parents go?"

"My parents have to work and take care of my little brother. They're here as often as they can be. I don't want them to feel guilty or anything. They have to pay the hospital bills somehow." She paused and added, "I love having alone time; it's good for thinking."

"So do I," Lacey said grabbing a chair. "When you want alone time, feel free to kick me out."

Lanie giggled. "Ok, but I doubt that'll happen. So I think its best we get to know each other since you'll be spending the rest of the summer here."

"You're right. Well let's see you know my name already. Oh I'm getting married." Lacey said while holding her hand out to show Lanie her ring.

"That's a really pretty ring. It's huge. The character in my book is getting married."

"Oh really…That sounds like a good read. Tell me—is she one of those crazy brides or is she mellow like me?" Lacey said giggling.

"Oh yeah she's calm, but there's only one problem—she's marrying someone she doesn't love. I'm waiting for the point in the book where she realizes she's making a big mistake." She paused and added, "She's having doubts but I'm confident she'll make the right decision and call off the wedding." Lanie watched Lacey, noting how uneasy she looked.

Lacey cleared her throat. "That sounds really interesting" she said before changing the subject. "So you like to read. What else should I know about you?"

Lacey sat for the next hour listening to Lanie talk about her hobbies and her family. She learned more about Lanie's heart disease and how she was in dire need of a heart transplant. Lanie explained how she was pretty high on the transplant waiting list but like every other kid in the hospital—she was awaiting the day she'd be told she'll live a long and healthy life. Lacey was amazed by Lanie's personality and her ability to smile despite all she was going through.

...

Danny sat in the back office of the diner smiling at a photo from long ago. Him and his two best friends were inseparable—him and Lacey especially. He yearned for the days when each other was all they needed. They were young and in love, but it was special because he'd known her his whole life and never had he trusted anyone more than her. But she had someone else in her life. She was marrying someone else and sure he'd never be over her, but he had until the wedding to get used to the fact that she would forever be someone else's in every way that mattered.

His sulking was interrupted by the appearance of Clara, who he'd become quite close to over the past few months. He saw a lot of himself in her and felt a responsibility to look out for her, mostly for Lacey. "Someone's brooding – I can come back later if you want." Clara said before taking a seat.

"I'm not brooding; I'm just thinking is all." He put the picture in in his desk, twisting the key to lock it. "What's up?"

"Nothing, well—"she was clearly nervous about whatever she had to say.

He saw that look in her eyes and he knew it all too well, but he needed Clara to confirm his suspicions. "Listen Clara if you're worried that I'm going to say anything to your sister or mom, you know that's not going to happen. " He came to sit in the chair beside her. "You know I'm here for you."

Clara smiled at Danny's sincerity. She knew she could trust him, so she decided to just spit it out. "The night before Greg left we had sex and now I think I'm pregnant; I don't know for sure. But I just can't be—my mom and dad will kill me. I'm just not ready to be a mom." She was sobbing uncontrollably and Danny brought her into his arms.

If Danny had never experienced Déjà vu before, he wouldn't have known what to call this moment. He remembered the night like it was yesterday. 2 weeks before that night, he and Lacey had made the decision to lose their virginity to each other and after it happened, they were fine and didn't regret a thing. But that night Lacey had been awfully quiet after they'd gotten home from a movie, and he asked her to tell her what was wrong. She was hesitant but eventually she told him of her fear that she was pregnant. He stayed with her for over an hour, assuring her that everything would be alright. They went straight to the clinic that week after school and as the doctor did a few tests, Danny was by her side the whole time. Fortunately it turned out she wasn't pregnant and all they could feel was relief. That night they talked for hours about the future and how they wanted marriage and kids years from now. They also made a collective decision to hold off on having sex again until they were absolutely ready. But that time would never come.

After drying her tears, Clara looked at Danny. "I'm so sorry. How embarrassing. I didn't mean to get your shirt all wet."

"It' fine Clara. Look you don't know for sure you're pregnant yet so there's no need to get all worked up." He took her hand. "All I'm saying is you shouldn't stress yourself out over something that may or may not be true. Have you bought a test or are you planning to see a doctor?"

"Yes I have appointment next week at the clinic. I'm going on my lunch break."

"Maybe you should call Greg and have him go with you."

"No. He's coming home for a visit next weekend and hopefully I won't have anything to tell him. I can go by myself. I'll be fine."

Danny flashbacked to the day he and Lacey sat in the clinic and he remembered trying to put on a brave front for Lacey but really he was nervous as hell. Lacey was the quietest she'd ever been since he'd known her, so he knew that she was scared. "No, you're not going alone. I'm going to be there with you when you get the results." He saw that she was about to protest his decision and continued, "Clara Porter, don't fight me on this. I'm coming and that's final."

She hugged him. "Thanks Danny for everything. You're a really good friend—more like the big brother I never had. I know this goes without saying, but Lacey can't know about any of this."

"Lacey who?" he said clearly joking. "The only way Lacey's going to find out is if you tell her. I promise."

"Thanks," she said smiling. How was the other day? Did you guys get to talk?"

"Oh you mean that obvious setup. Yes we talked and she seems happy. I'm happy for her and Jake."

"His name is Julian," Clara said while laughing. "Well she clearly still has feelings for you. It was all over her face when I called her out at breakfast the next morning." Clara said with certainty.

"Listen Clara; don't make things hard for your sister. She loves Julian and she's going to marry him, so let's be supportive of her ok. Promise me you'll leave her alone—no matter what you think she feels for me."

"You sound like my mom." She hesitated but said, "Fine, I'll stay out of it. Just know I'm Team Danny."

Danny breathed in frustration. Of course Clara wasn't going to make this easy. "Yeah, well I'm beginning to think that's because I allow you to get a free meal every now and then."

"Maybe, maybe not," she said joking. "I should go; I have to pick up Lacey. She started her volunteer work at the children's hospital today."

Danny smiled at the thought of Lacey working with children. She was doing what she always wanted and he could only be happy for her. "Ok." he said hugging her tightly. "Remember, it's going to be fine."

Clara walked out of his office and his mind drifted back to Lacey. He couldn't help thinking about Clara's claims that Lacey wasn't over him. Regardless of whether there was any truth to that, as of right now she was still wearing another man's ring on her finger.


	5. Chapter 5

Lacey woke up Saturday morning feeling like she worked a 12 hour shift at the hospital, when really she was tired from being up all night. After Julian picked her up from the hospital yesterday, they drove past Johnny Cakes and he wanted to go in for dinner but she was able to convince him that the lunch menu was way better. She bought herself less than 24 hours to prepare herself for Julian and Danny meeting for the first time. She didn't do well in uncomfortable situations and she knew this meeting was bound to be awkward, especially since she still hadn't told Julian about how deep her past with Danny was. She wasn't purposefully keeping it from him; it's just that he—they had never been easy to talk about.

Walking into Johnny Cakes holding Julian's hand, she felt her palms getting sweating and she knew he noticed too because he let her hand go to wipe his on his pants. "Are you ok? You seem a bit tense babe?" Julian asked in a curious tone.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I'm feeling a little sick, but I'm ok."

"We can go if you want. Get you back in bed and I can make you some soup."

Of course that sounded tempting, but she wasn't about to leave now. "No let's stay."

He kissed her and they went to a table in the back. So far she hadn't seen Danny, and she began to relax a little more as the waitress took their order and Julian talked about the new Ashford resorts opening up at the end of the month. She figured she'd better get used to hearing him talk about the hotels, because his father seemed to be sucking him into joining the company full time. So not only would she be marry to him, but she'd also be married to this business.

As they ate, Julian shocked her by asking about Danny. "Wait doesn't your friend own this place. Where he is? I should tell him how much I'm enjoying my food."

"I'm not exactly sure. I don't see him." Lacey looked over Julian's head and still saw no sign of Danny but she did notice his friend Sam behind the counter.

"Well I really want to meet him before the wedding. You did send him an invitation right?"

"No. I figured I'd give it to him in person since I knew we were spending the rest of the summer here."

"Good idea. I'm sure he'll be happy to receive it from you in person, since you guys were best friends. I think it's cool how you guys ended up back in Green Grove together at the same time." He said while biting into his sandwich.

She smiled but realized it was time for her to tell him about her past with Danny, but first she needed to get her nerves together—alone. "I need to go to the restroom, but when I get back there's something we need to discuss, ok."

She watched the worried look grow on his face, but he nodded ok. She left and upon reaching the restroom she splashed cold water on her face. She paced back and forth trying to figure out how she was going to start the conversation off. All the possible ways he could react ran through her mind, but she hoped he wouldn't make a huge scene in the diner. Ultimately, she decided she'd save the conversation for the later on tonight. She rushed out of the restroom nearly bumping into the person coming her way. She would've fallen had he not wrapped his arms around her waist to set her upright.

Lacey looked up, staring straight into Danny's eyes. She noted the sweatiness of his shirt and how his hair was tied back in a mess ponytail. A gym bag hung from his shoulder, so she figured he must've just come from working out. It took her a minute to realize that if they moved a few steps to the right, they'd be in full view of everyone eating in the diner, especially Julian. She immediately pushed Danny away. "What are you doing back here?"

"Well I do own the place and this is my office," he said pointing to the door which was right across from the ladies' room.

"Right I'm sorry. Excuse me; I should get back to my table now."

"Wait Lace, are you here alone?" he asked, hoping she was.

"No um— Julian's here with me," She said hesitantly.

"Well good, let me clean up a little and I'll come out and meet him."

He seemed to know she was going to protest, because he went into the men's restroom without letting her get a word out. Now annoyed, she walked back to the table and she had half a mind to rush Julian out of there. She realized how stupid that would've been and the laugh Danny would get out of it later.

Julian looked at her. "Are you good? I started to come looking for you."

"I'm ok. I actually ran into Danny. I don't know if you saw him when he came in, but he wants to come and meet you."

"That's great. I guess we should've bought him his invitation."

"Don't worry about that. He'll get it later."

They sat— waiting patiently for Danny and after a while, he finally showed up. Lacey stood and Julian followed. She introduced Julian to Danny as her fiancé and Danny to Julian as her friend. The two of them shook hands and Danny pulled an extra chair up. "It's really good to finally meet you," said Danny.

"Likewise, I think you're the last of Lacey's friends I had yet to meet. I told her a couple of weeks ago I thought we'd end up meeting at the wedding."

Danny laughed. "Congratulations man. Lace's a special girl; you're a lucky guy."

"Don't I know it? She knows I know it. I tell her all the time how glad I am we found each other." Julian grabbed her hand and smiled. "I really enjoyed the food. Seriously man, this is a fine place you're running."

"Thanks. I didn't know much about running a business before I got this place, but I learned along the way. "

"I hear you. I don't know if Lacey's told you but my dad is Michael Ashford as in the Ashford hotels and resorts, so I've been learning about running businesses my whole life, but I'm only just now starting to understand it.

So lacey was marrying rich, Danny thought. Just another reason, this guy wasn't right for her. She deserved to have everything she wanted, but the Lacey he knew didn't care about flashy things. He had to remind himself that he hadn't known her for years though, so he really didn't know for sure what she liked. Still, he got the feeling the two of them weren't really compatible. "I knew I recognized your last name. It must be nice working alongside your dad."

"It's nice sometimes but my family can get a little frustrating to be around. That's why I didn't disagree with Lacey when she suggested we spend the remainder of our summer in Green Grove and have the wedding here."

"I'm glad too. We have a lot of catching up to do," Danny said as he looked at Lacey.

Lacey smiled, but grew quiet as they continued to talk about the ins and outs of owning a business. Soon they were joined by Sam.

"Hey Danny, I don't mean to interrupt but I have to go get Jagger from day camp. Apparently he's sick and they don't want the other kids to catch what he's got. Is it ok if I leave early for the day?"

"Of course you can Sam. Before you go, I'd like you to meet Lacey and her fiancé Julian Ashford."

Sam shook the couples' hand and turned to Lacey. "I've heard a lot about you Lacey. Congratulations on your engagement."

"Thank you." Lacey said warmly.

"Sam, tell Jag to get better. I'll be by later with dinner. Call me if you need anything else."

"Ok. It was nice meeting you guys," Sam said before turning to walk away.

All Lacey could thing about was who is Jag? Obviously he was a little kid—a sick kid. Danny seemed to care a lot about him and she wondered if he was Jag's father. It would explain why he and Sam seemed so close. Great, she thought, just another thing to keep her awake at night.

"You two seem close," said Julian curiously. "Are you two dating?"

"Julian!" Lacey said clearly embarrassed by his probing of Danny's personal life. He hadn't known him long enough to ask those types of questions.

Danny laughed. "It's ok Lace. We get that question a lot, but the answer is no. She's just a really good friend."

"Oh. Well, if you want to bring her to the wedding that's fine with us, the more the merrier." Julian said.

"We'll see," Danny said smiling

"Well, we really should get going," Lacey said as she stood. "I have to meet Julian's cousin in the city."

"Yes, the two of them will continue their search for the perfect white dress." Julian said as he kissed Lacey on the cheek.

Danny smiled, trying to not seem jealous of Julian. "Good Luck Lace. I hope you find the dress," He said staring at her intensely. "Julian, it was nice meeting you."

"Same here," Julian said modestly. He called the waitress for their check, but Danny insisted this meal be on him. They thanked him and left diner.

Lacey was thankful that their meeting had turned out to better than she thought. She still had to look forward to telling Julian more about her relationship with Danny, but suddenly she wasn't so nervous about that anymore.

…

Later after she got out the shower, Lacey joined Julian in bed. "Who are you texting?"

"My mom— Ashley told her you didn't find a dress. She says it's almost like you're trying to find a reason to not marry me."

Lacey rolled her eyes. This was exactly why she didn't spend much time with Julian's side of the family. "I'm not just going to buy any old dress Julian. I have to like it; I'm the one that's wearing it." She sat upright and turned to him. "Do you believe her? You think I'm doing this on purpose."

"Of course not babe... Look, don't worry about it. Just take your time and find the dress you want." He paused and went on, "I do have to ask you something. It's about Danny."

A lump rose in her throat. "Yes," she said quietly.

"I get the feeling that maybe he liked you as more than a friend. It's just the way he talks about you and looks at you—it's the same I way do. And he calls you Lace, what's up with that?"

"It's just a nickname. Sometimes he'd forget to add the y to my name, so he just started called me Lace." she said smiling at the memory. She cleared her throat. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about earlier—about Danny." Taking a breath, she went on. "Our relationship was a lot more than best friends. We dated for about two years, before he left for Arizona. 2 months before he left, we had sex for the first time. He was my first and I was his."

Julian stood and looked at her. "And you felt like you couldn't tell me this because?"

"It's just really hard for me to talk about him. I've wanted to tell you but every time I got up the nerve, I just got really scared. I just don't want you to hate me or think I'm keeping secrets."

Julian took his spot back on the bed. "I don't hate you. I just really wish I'd have known before meeting him. It's obvious he was a special part of your life. Is there anything else I should know about you two?"

"No that's it." She took his hands in hers. "I can't tell you how good it feels to get that out."

"I'm just glad that was what you had to tell me."

She was confused. "What did you think I was going to say?"

"Well earlier you were feeling sick and then you wanted to talk. I thought you were going to say you were pregnant." He breathed in relief. "But you didn't. No worries." He kissed her on the cheek and went back to his phone.

"Pregnant? No. Trust me; we take all the necessary precautions to make sure that doesn't happen. We're not ready. But someday right?

"Yeah sure, we'll see," he said not looking at her.

Lacey didn't like the way that sounded. He sounded as if he was brushing off the possibility of having a family with her. "You don't sound sure about that. Did I miss something? I distinctly remember you telling me you loved kids when we first started dating and you know I want to be a mom."

"Lacey just because I said I loved kids, doesn't mean I want any of my own. " He put his phone down and turned to her. "I just want to get married first—can we do that?" He said before kissing her on her forehead. "I'm tired; we'll talk more about this later. He turned over, closing his eyes.

She stayed awake an extra hour thinking about their conversation. Sure he didn't say the actual words, but she could tell he had no real interest in becoming a father no time soon. She would've been happy to found out she was pregnant whereas he was relieved to find out she wasn't. Suddenly her doubts about this marriage working out came flooding back to her.


	6. Chapter 6

Wednesday morning Lacey woke up to find Julian gone. He'd left a note saying he was heading into the city to work with his father. She figured she should go ahead and accept the fact that he would be involved in the company full time probably before they were married. She just didn't want him to use work as an excuse to avoid conversations like starting a family. He'd been distant ever since their talk and it made her wonder if he was silently having doubts about marrying her because truthfully, she had a few of her own.

Lacey went downstairs and found her sister eating breakfast and was surprised to learn she cooked for everybody. "Has hell frozen over? When have you cooked breakfast for anybody but yourself?"

Clara sneered at her sister. If only Lacey knew that she was about to go find out if there was a tiny human being growing inside of her. She was nervous and scared, because depending on what happened today she could be about to change her family's life. "Very funny, I just figured since I was making myself breakfast, why not make some for everyone."

Lacey was confused. The only time Clara unexpectedly did something nice for her parents or Lacey was when she had something bad to tell them. "Uh oh…What did you do?" Clara stared at Lacey pretending not to hear her. "You'd better tell me now, maybe I can help. Is it the car? Did you wreck it? Oh no—you got fired?"

"I really don't know what you're talking about and I don't like that you're basically saying I'm a bad person. I do nice stuff for you and mom all the time." She sat a plate in front of her sister. "Just eat your food."

"If you say so, but I still think something's up with you—just know that whatever it is, it'll come out. All secrets do—trust me. I'm learning that the hard way."

"Do you want to tell me what exactly that means?" Clara asked curiously.

Lacey wasn't really usually open about her and Julian's disagreements, but she really needed advice on how to handle this. "The other night I finally told Julian about how close Danny and I were in the past. And he wasn't mad." She ate some eggs and continued. "Anyways, for some reason he thought that I was going to tell him I was pregnant. He says that he's glad I'm not and I'm almost 100% sure he doesn't want to have children—like ever."

Clara thought this was just weird. She had her appointment to find out if she was pregnant in an hour, and now her sister was talking about babies. She was hoping this conversation wasn't some type of that sign that she would be a mother soon. "Wow. That sounds interesting." She said, hoping Lacey would change the subject. But she didn't.

"I know right. How does he expect me to marry him and not want a family? Is it just supposed to be us for the rest of our lives?" Frustration rang clear in Lacey's voice.

"You know who's good with kids? Danny—he loves them." Clara said jokingly.

Lacey hated herself for walking into that trap. She was already thinking about Danny more than she should and Clara's insistence on bringing him up in every conversation didn't help. "Danny has absolutely nothing to do with this. Clara, I'm marrying Julian. At least I think I am."

Clara could see that Lacey was truly lost, but she didn't know how helpful she could be. "Lacey, I like Julian but he always kind of struck me as the bachelor type. Then he changed. I can see that he loves you, but if he's not willing to make compromises then I'm not sure getting married is the best thing for the both of you." She got up and walked over to give Lacey a hug. "Look, I know how much you want to be a mom. I don't think you should give that up for anyone."

Lacey smiled, because she always the one giving her little sister meaningful advice, but the roles were reversed this time. "You really have grown into a smart, young woman. Thanks Clara."

"No problem. Listen I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back later."

Clara walked out and left Lacey alone to her thoughts.

….

Lacey's mom had gotten off earlier than usual so Lacey took the car to go to Johnny Cakes. She told herself she was going to the diner to get dinner for everyone, but in actuality the need to see Danny was strong. After having that talk with her sister earlier she was determined to try and sort out her underlying feelings for Danny.

She headed straight for the back of the diner and stopped short of Danny's office door when she heard giggling—not only a child's laughter but a man and a woman. She could already guess that it was probably Jagger, Sam and Danny. Jagger must've been coloring because Danny was teasing him about how outside of the line he was. She smiled thinking back to Clara's comment—_You know who's good with kids, Danny. He loves them. _She probably knows better than anyone how much he loves kids, because he used to complain about wanting a baby sister or brother when they were little. Then there was also that pregnancy scare they had when they were 16. Except he wasn't so scared and he actually convinced her that they could raise a baby together. She often wondered what would've happened had she actually turned out to be pregnant.

Her cellphone rang as she was standing near the door and Lacey was sure they now knew she was standing right outside the door. Or maybe they hadn't, because they were having such a good time. Lacey silenced her phone as she turned around to go get her order, but she was stopped by Danny.

"Lace—what are you doing here?"

She turned around at the sound of his voice, hoping he couldn't see the embarrassment all over her face. "I was just here to pick up some dinner to go. Julian's waiting for me at home" Why she added that part, she had no clue. "I was just going to say hi, but I didn't want to interrupt you guys."

"Well you're always welcome to come in. Anytime—I mean it." Staring at her intensely, he continued, "I just want you to be able to come to me for anything. I'm always here for you."

Lacey didn't doubt the sincerity in his words, and she appreciated his effort at trying to make this friendship work. Fact is, most of her problems revolved around him these days, so she didn't know how confiding in him would help. "I know. I'm just trying to make things less awkward and I really—"

Lacey was interrupted by Jagger who'd run out to show Danny his latest coloring. "Look Uncle Danny, I colored this one perfectly."

Danny picked the little boy up and examined his drawing. "Well that's quite an improvement. Are you sure you didn't have your mom do this for you?"

Jagger snickered. "No that would be cheating. And cheaters never win."

"You're right about that." He high fived Jagger and sat him back down on the floor. He looked to Lacey and figured he should introduce the two of them. "Lacey this is my godson Jagger, but we all call him Jag." He turned to Jagger and introduced Lacey as his very good friend.

So Jagger wasn't his son, Lacey thought to herself. She was also unnerved at the relief she felt over the realization. "Hello, it's nice to meet you Jag. That's a very nice name."

"Thank you Miss Lacey, would you like to see my drawing?" Jagger handed the picture to Lacey waiting for her to comment on it.

"Wow, this is a really good drawing Jagger." " she said as she examined the drawing.

"Thank you I'm practicing to stay inside the lines before I start kindergarten in August."

"That's great. You'll love kindergarten. Making new friends is going to be the best." She looked up at Danny. "That's where I met your Uncle Danny."

"But you guys are so tall. You knew each other when you were my size?"

Danny and Lacey both laughed. "That's right bud," Danny said while staring straight at Lacey. "And if you're lucky enough, you'll find someone who's important enough to stay in your life as long as Lacey has been in mine. Even if you guys happen to leave each other's side for a while, you'll always be close."

Lacey could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks. Of course his words affected her—hell just being near him nearly offset her whole thinking pattern. She had to leave right now, before everything she was feeling and thinking started to show all over her face. "Jagger, listen to your uncle, he's a very smart man." She heard a name being called for her order. "That's me guys, I'll see you later." She grabbed her food and left without looking back.

Once she reached her car on the side of Johnny Cakes diner, she didn't immediately pull off. She was too emotional to drive. Instead, she just took a minute to compose herself, resting her forehead on the steering wheel.

She was startled by the opening of her passenger's side door. Danny slid into the seat and just looked straight ahead. A moment to just regroup before she went home was all she needed, but she couldn't get that. Danny wouldn't let her have that. He invaded her thoughts and now he was invading her personal space. This close was too close. "What are you doing in my car?"

"Same thing you're doing at my diner. I just want to be near you."

"I came here for food—which is getting cold, so you might want to get out so I can get home."

Still looking ahead of him, he asked, "Is Julian waiting for you?"

"What kind of a question is that? Of course he's waiting for me. I said that earlier, didn't I?" She was quickly becoming annoyed with his presence. "Danny what is this about?"

"This isn't about anything besides what I just said. I just want to be near you—alone—without people around. I'll sleep tonight, probably better than I usually do." He grabbed her face, making sure to direct her attention upon him. "Why don't you just admit I'm the reason you came here tonight and that you still have feelings for me?"

She didn't even know how to respond to that. Lacey grabbed the steering wheel with both hands to stop them from shaking. "I don't know if you got overwhelmed by what you told Jagger but I don't feel anything for you other than friendship. Just get out please; I need to get home to Julian."

"It's funny how you keep trying to throw his name in every sentence. It's almost like you're trying to convince yourself that you want to go home to him." He watched the shocked expression grow on her face, but she said nothing. "Fine I'll leave." He opened the door but before walking away he said, "Tell Julian I said hello."

He slammed the door, making Lacey jump; she immediately started the car and drove away not giving him a chance to come back. She wished that she could drive anywhere—just keep going. She didn't want to go home and live a life she silently feared was starting to become a lie.


	7. Chapter 7

To say Lacey was distracted would've been an understatement. She was working at the hospital today, but mentally she was somewhere else. She was dealing with the reality that her fiancé may not want the same things that she did— not to mention the fact that they hadn't talked about it yet. She was also stressed out about what took place between her and Danny last night. The words _I just want to be near you _had stuck with her. But then again, just about everything concerning Danny stayed on her mind. One thing she couldn't stop thinking about was how comfortable he was with Jagger. Kids weren't an issue with Danny. If they were together, she wouldn't have to worry about being scared to get pregnant. She had to tell herself to stop thinking what if, because there was absolutely no way her and Danny could be together.

"What are you thinking about?" Lanie asked. "Enjoying a movie is kind of hard to do when the person you're watching it with is in a bad mood."

"I'm so sorry Lanie," Lacey said apologetically. "I'm just a little distracted today."

"Yeah I get that. Are you going to tell me what's wrong? I'm pretty good at giving advice."

Lacey didn't doubt Lanie's words, but she just didn't feel right complaining to a child who had bigger problems to deal with than her messy love life. "It's nothing. Let's just finish the movie."

"I've seen this movie like 5 times already," Lanie said. "Come on let me help you. You're doing so much for me; maybe I can return the favor."

"Lanie you don't need to return the favor. I love volunteering with you guys and you're some of the best kids I've ever known."

Lacey watched as Lanie became discouraged at her unwillingness to tell her what was going on with her. She was about to speak when a man entered the room with flowers. She assumed they were for Lanie, but when the delivery guy asked her to sign for them; she immediately wondered who they could've been from.

"Those are really pretty flowers. Who are they from?" Lanie inquired.

"Um…I'm not sure. Let me read the card." She opened the card and read the words:

I'm sorry for yesterday. I didn't mean to upset you, D.

Lacey frowned at the card and turned her attention back towards Lanie. "They're from a friend. I'll tell you what, since you like the flowers so much—I think I'll leave them here in your room. If I take them home, I might forget to water them," Lacey said. Truth is, she didn't know how she would explain the flowers to Julian when he picked her up this evening, so she figured they'd be better off in Lanie's room.

"I wouldn't mind that. The nurses will water them." Lanie watched as Lacey placed the flowers on the windowsill. "I'm almost sure the flowers are connected to whatever's got you distracted and I'm not trying to be nosey, I'm just trying to help."

How could Lacey turn her down this time? If she was going to tell her something, she wanted it to be as simple as possible. She suddenly remembered about the book Lanie was reading. "I think I might be the character in your book. I think I'm in love with two people."

"Oh you're right; I can't really help you with that problem, but thanks for trusting me enough to tell me."

Lacey smiled. "You're the first person I've admitted it to out loud. I really just wish I wasn't in this position right now." She sat next to Lanie. "The character in your book—has she made a decision?"

Lanie saw the look in Lacey's eyes and knew how desperate she was for an answer. "Well, she's run away from all of her problems. She just got tired of everyone telling her to do what makes her happy when she didn't really know the answer to that. She's hoping to figure that out on her trip."

"That sounds a little extreme. I don't think I can just hop on a plane and go, no matter how much I'd like to," Lacey said hopelessly. "What do you think is going to happen?"

"I think she's going to miss one of the guys so much, that it'll make her realize that she never wants to be apart from him again."

"Well you're quite the romantic." Lacey said while laughing.

Lanie smiled. "So my parents have told me. I blame them. With everything they're dealing with, they still manage to look as in love as they did 22 years ago. I choose to believe that everyone can have that same type of love—even me. It's the reason I'm hopeful of a new heart."

Lacey didn't want to cry. Instead, she started telling Lanie stories about her childhood and Danny except the stuff about Tara. It felt good to talk to someone new about what she was feeling.

…

Danny sat at his desk with his phone in his hand, staring at Lacey's name on the screen. He was trying to determine if it as a good idea to call her or not. He wanted to see if she'd gotten his flowers and tell her again how sorry he was. Even though he meant every word he said, it didn't mean he wasn't remorseful about how uncomfortable he'd made things for her. His attitude about Julian wasn't helping the situation and he vowed once again to try and be more excepting of their engagement. He trusted that Lacey was making the right decision for herself.

Just as he was about to press call, Clara walked in and looking at her, he immediately remembered that he was supposed go with her to her doctor's appointment yesterday. "Oh my god, Clara I'm so sorry."

"It's ok Danny. You don't have to apologize. You'd better have a good reason for standing me up though," Clara said while taking a seat.

"I scheduled some interviews and I had some other business to take care of. I completely forget that your appointment was yesterday. I'm really sorry. I wanted to be there for you."

"I said it's ok Danny. I understand how busy you can get. I'm not mad or anything."

Danny still felt guilty. He didn't like letting people down, especially his friends. It was also important that he followed through on his promises. "I know, but my word means a lot. I'm just sorry."

"Seriously, you really weren't needed. I mean I cried when the doctor told me the results, but I was pretty composed for the most part."

Danny grew a worried look. "You cried—when she told you—that means you're pregnant."

"No I'm not. I cried tears of joy. The test came back negative. I'm not pregnant." She said while smiling.

Danny jumped up and gave Clara a hug. "That's great news Clara. I'm really happy for you. I know that sounds weird."

"No it's not weird. Believe me; nobody's happier than I am. I feel like I can breathe again."

"Now you can have fun this weekend when Greg comes to visit…Safe fun. You don't need any more close calls."

Clara laughed but she knew Danny was serious. "Oh trust me; we won't be having any more of those." She looked at him. "Hey thanks for being here for me. It really means a lot."

He smiled. It was nice to know one Porter sister didn't hate him. "No problem. I told you I'm always here."

"I know but still I must've put you in an awkward position—with Lacey. I don't want you to have to keep secrets from her. I just don't want her to be disappointed in me."

"Don't worry about me and Lacey. I don't think she cares much about what secrets I'm keeping."

"That sounds bad. Tell me what happened." Clara said adamantly.

"I messed up. I kind of pushed her to admit her feelings for me and it blew up in my face. I made her upset and now she probably hates me."

"Come on, this is Lacey we're talking about. She doesn't have a bone in her body that's able to hate anyone, especially you." She put her hand on his shoulder. "I think it's just a really confusing time for her and she's just trying her best to keep it together."

"I know. That's why I shouldn't have tried to push her into admitting anything. For god sakes, she'd engaged. It's all I think about sometimes and I can't even force myself to be happy for her. What is wrong with me?" he sighed.

Clara felt bad for Danny, because he was in love with someone he couldn't have. Well, at least right now that seemed to be the case. "Nothing's wrong with you. You just love someone who's marrying somebody else—it's as simple as that. I really wish there was something I could say to make it better."

Danny grew a small smile. "I promised myself that I'd start being a better friend and that means being more accepting of her engagement. I just want her to know she has my support."

"I'm sure she knows that. And you have to know this is as hard on her as it is on you. She loves you enough to never want to hurt you."

"I know, but not being with her hurts." He ran his hands over his face in frustration. Changing the subject he brought up something Clara had said earlier, "You know you could never disappoint her—at least not by getting pregnant."

"I doubt she'd have had a smile on her face if I told her I was pregnant. Her and my parents have high expectations of me and sometimes I'm afraid I'm going to screw up. Lacey has set high standards and I don't know if I'm going to live up to them."

Danny didn't like that Clara had felt so unsure about herself and the decisions she was making. "I'm going to tell you something that nobody but Lacey and me knows." He watched as Clara stared at him, eyes full of curiosity. "When we were about 16, Lacey had a pregnancy scare of her own. To be quite honest, she was more scared than you were. I remember her holding my hand so tight while we were waiting for the results. In fact, she never let go until she hugged me after we found out she wasn't pregnant."

"I never knew you guys actually had sex. It must've been right before your Aunt—" Clara didn't mean to bring up Aunt Tara's suicide. "Sorry."

"It's ok. Yes it was about 3 weeks before my aunt Tara killed herself. We barely had time to calm down after the scare and then that happened." He was suddenly feeling very nostalgic. "My point is—that if you want to talk to her, I think she's going to be far from judgmental about it."

"I think you're right. I'm going to talk to her about it this weekend." She stood to go. "Thanks for the talk. And I hope you get to keep that promise you made to yourself."

"I hope so too, considering how I feel about her. Listen before I forget, you know my birthday is Saturday. I'm closing Johnny Cakes early, because Sam and the crew want to throw me a party. I hope you can come by and bring Greg with you."

"Of course we'll be there. I'll see you Saturday."

Clara walked out of Danny's office and almost bumped into Sam, who was leaning near the doorway. "Sam—what are you doing?"

"Hey, I was just going to ask Danny something, but I didn't want to interrupt. I heard him invite you to the party. I was going to suggest that you bring Lacey as well. I know how special she is to him and I'd like her to be there."

Clara was skeptical of Sam's thinking about Lacey, and she was pretty sure inviting her to his party had nothing to do with Danny. "I'm not sure if she'll be up for it or whether she and Julian have plans already but we'll see."

"Ok, but just try to make sure she comes. See you both on Saturday." Sam walked into Danny's office, pulling the door up behind her.

Clara walked away feeling a little strange about the short conversation that transpired between her and Sam. The two of them weren't particularly friendly and she only tolerated her because of Danny. Why, she wondered, did Sam want Lacey at the party so badly?

**Glad to have gotten the whole Clara maybe being pregnant out the way especially since a few of you were worried. I was never going to go there, because like someone said it would definitely take the focus off the story and also my main point was to try and show some parallel between the porter sisters about not being perfect and show how close Clara is too Danny despite his estranged relationship with Lace… I wonder why Sam wants Lacey at the party so bad. More good stuff to come! Thanks for reading xo**


	8. Chapter 8

Saturday afternoon, Lacey had gone straight to her room upstairs and locked herself inside. She'd had a hard morning at the hospital. One of the four patients she volunteers with lost his battle with leukemia. She was more confused than anything, because the doctors we're 75% sure he'd be ok after his last surgery. It also didn't help that Lanie wasn't feeling today and she was really close to the little boy that died. Lanie wasn't up for company and neither was Lacey, who was allowed to go home early for the day. She didn't even bother calling Julian, who wanted to surprise her by coming to the hospital and meeting some of the kids. He also planned to take her to lunch, so they could talk. He only knew she'd gone home earlier, because one of the staff members had told him what happened.

As soon as Julian got home, he went downstairs expecting to find Lacey, but she wasn't there. He called her name out as he searched upstairs and he got an answer as he stood outside the locked door of her bedroom. "Lacey, baby open up." He continued knocking, hoping she'd answer. "Look I know things have been strained between us lately, but you've got to let me in so we can talk. I want to be here for you."

To his surprise, Lacey came straight into his arms and started crying. "It's going to be ok. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere." Julian assured Lacey.

They walked downstairs and she sat at the table while he made tea. Silence followed until after the tea was done and he joined her at the table. "Tell me what happened," he said while rubbing her hand. Even though he knew the full story, he wanted to hear it from her.

"Lucas, a 10 year old little boy died today. He started flat lining when he was telling me a story about his last family vacation before he was diagnosed with leukemia. I had to watch as the doctors tried to save his life. It was one of the worst things I've ever seen and I'm not even a doctor yet."

"I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. I was going to surprise you today and take you out to lunch. The doctors told me you'd gone home for the day. Why didn't you call me?"

"I just didn't feel like waiting. One of the other volunteers brought me home. Are you mad?" Lacey asked.

"No I just would've liked to have been there for you." He said solemnly.

She put down her cup and moved closer to hug him. "You're here now and that's all that matters." She paused. "I think we need to talk about the kid issue, because it's obviously important to me."

"And me too, but I—" He was interrupted by Clara's yelling from the top of the steps to see if they were home.

"Down here," Julian yelled back.

Clara soon joined them and noticed that Lacey's eyes were all puffy and red. "You've been crying. What's wrong?" She said worriedly.

"One of the kids at the hospital died today. It was unexpected and I just feel really bad for his parents." said Lacey somberly.

"I'm sorry Lacey. I know that must've been hard." She paused and went on, "Well I was actually coming to see if you wanted to come to Danny's birthday party at Johnny's Cakes today." Clara decided at the last minute that she would ask her to come only because she knew Danny would be happy to see her.

She put her hand on her face. "Oh my god, I totally forgot that today was his birthday." Truth was, she'd known it waking up this morning, but with things being the way they were between them; she hadn't planned on going to see him.

"It's understandable," said Julian. "You've had a rough day." He looked at Clara. "I think we're just going to stay in and relax. Thanks for the invite though."

Clara was annoyed that Julian had answered for Lacey especially when she wasn't even talking to him. She looked at Lacey for confirmation. "Lacey I really think this party would be a good way to take your mind off of what happened. It'll be fun. Greg's coming with me and I want you to come. Danny's one of your oldest friends, so I know he wants you there. So…will you come?"

Lacey looked at Clara and then to Julian. "Ok, I'll be there. Julian and I will be there. What time?"

"Party starts at 6. See you guys there." She ran upstairs closing the basement door behind her.

"Your sister hates me. But she loves Danny. It sure was easy for her to get you to agree to the party." He said in a bitter tone.

"She doesn't hate you; she just hasn't spent much time with you." She took both of his hands. "I want to get out of the house. Will you go with me to the party, please?" She said poking her lip out, giving him the puppy dog face.

"Well I can't say no to that face. I'm in." Julian said smiling.

Lacey kissed him and said went to go find something to put on her for the party. It concerned him that she really didn't hesitate to say yes to the party and he wondered if she really only wanted to see Danny.

…

Initially, Danny was against Sam's idea to throw him a party for his 23rd birthday. He had decided early on that he would just spend his day off, relaxing and going to the bar with some of his pals. After his employees got involved, he gave in; especially since they were planning everything themselves. All he had to do was show up and have a good time.

As he looked around Johnny Cakes at his old friends, teachers and all the wonderful people in his life, he smiled thinking about how far he's come since his move back to Green Grove. His thoughts shifted to Lacey and he remembered how many birthdays they spent together. Since he still hadn't heard from her regarding the flowers he sent, he was starting to think she wasn't going to forgive him. But just before they were about to start singing happy birthday to him, she walked in the door. He would've thought it was a dream; except Julian walked in behind her and he knew it would never be dream of his where Julian was involved. Her eyes caught his and they smiled at one another. This birthday just got a whole lot better, he thought to himself.

He watched her maneuver through the crowd and finally she stood face to face with him. "Hey Danny… Happy Birthday," she said trying to be heard over the music playing.

"Thanks. I'm surprised you're here after—I'm just really glad to see you," he said smiling.

"I needed the distraction. I had a tough day at the hospital."

Danny was about to ask what happened but Julian came over. "Happy Birthday my man," he said while shaking his hand. "This is quite the party. You seem to be a popular man."

Danny smirked. "I wouldn't say that. Thanks for coming."

Sam joined the trio and thanked Lacey for coming. She gathered the crowd as they sang happy birthday to Danny. He made a special announcement to thank everyone for coming, making sure to stare at Lacey as he said it.

After Lacey got to talking with Danny and one of their old teachers, Julian noticed a guy from Lacey's yearbook who she seemed to have been close to as well. "Excuse me, Are you Archie Yates?"

Archie looked Julian up and down. "I am. You're the dude Lacey's marrying."

"I am. It's nice to meet you," he said as he shook Archie's hand. "I recognized you from Lacey's yearbook and decided to come and speak. From the pictures, I assume you dated."

"Yes I was captain of the soccer team, she ran track and was captain of the dance team. We won prom queen and king even after we broke up. We made sense, but—"Archie looked over to where Danny and Lacey were standing and continued, "He was always the one. Well, at least that's what everyone thought."

"Why'd they think that?"

"They were basically raised together. Him, her, and Jo—they never went anywhere without each other. No one was surprised when Lacey and Danny finally started dated. And then his aunt killed herself while Danny was at her house one weekend. He basically had a mental breakdown—wouldn't talk to anyone, not even Lacey."

The part about Danny's aunt committing suicide was new information to him. Lacey told him that she died and they just moved away. "So then he moved away, because he was having a hard time coping… So then you made your move huh? 

"Not immediately after, but I gave her a few months." He said modestly. "Things were good until I wanted to take our relationship to a more intimate level and she told me she wasn't ready yet. She used that same excuse for a whole month and finally she told me she wasn't over Danny—that she knew he'd be back." Archie could tell Julian had never heard most of this story before. "I told her Danny was changed by what he saw and that she didn't really know if he was coming back. I also warned her that if she didn't try and let him go, she'd be alone forever. It looks like she ended up taking my advice. Congratulations man."

"Thanks," Julian said. Oddly, he now felt like he was in Archie's position. A placeholder in Lacey's life until Danny would return. And now he has.

Archie noticed the intimidated look in Julian's eyes. "Look man, I didn't mean to scare you or anything with that story. I'm sure if she wanted Danny, she'd have broken off the engagement by now. I don't think you have anything to worry about."

Julian wasn't so sure about that. From everything he' heard, pictures he'd seen, and even watching them right now—he realized Lacey might still be in love with Danny. Because of his pride and not wanting to lose Lacey, he wouldn't voice his fears. "I know. I've got to go grab something out of the car. It was nice meeting you."

…

Greg, Clara, And Danny stood in a corner talking, but as soon as Greg went to the restroom; Clara didn't waste time in asking Danny about Lacey. "So I noticed you two were very friendly tonight." She said looking in Lacey's direction.

"I'm glad she came. Thanks for convincing her to come. Julian on the hand, I could've done without but I guess they're a package deal." Danny said.

"I'm sure I would've ended up inviting her at some point, but it was really Sam's idea. In fact she insisted I made sure she showed up." Clara said, still confused by that. "Julian wasn't invited by me. Lacey brought him along. If I invited him, I probably would've given him the address to an abandoned building."

"Clara, stop," Danny said while fighting the urge to laugh. He had to admit it was fun having someone dislike Julian as much as he did.

"What? You're the one who made a vow to like him and be all accepting. How is that going by the way?"

"Not so good. Seeing her with him is hard, especially today of all days." He sighed. "You sound like you really don't like him. You'd tell me if he wasn't treating you or Lacey with respect, right?"

"Of course I would. She's my sister. I'm not going to let anyone hurt her," she said defensively.

"Right, I'm sorry. That was a stupid question. I guess I just want a real reason to kick his ass."

The two of them got a good laugh out of that.

"What's so funny?" Lacey said, sneaking up behind them with Julian in tow.

"Nothing, I was just teasing Danny about becoming an old man." Clara lied.

Julian decided this was the perfect time to present what he went to get out of the car. "Oh before I forget, I grabbed this for you before I left the house." Julian said, pulling a wedding invitation out of his back pocket and handing it to Danny. "Now, you're officially invited."

"Wow... official. I guess it's time to go get my good suit of closet." Danny said. He was not at all happy about Julian's attempt to upstage him on his birthday. If Danny was trying to be cordial, then so could he.

Clara was also annoyed by Julian and she was happy when Greg asked her if was she ready to go. She kissed Danny on the cheek, telling him happy birthday again.

Danny, Lacey, Julian, and now Sam watched as the couple went out the door. "They look really good together," Sam said. "You must've been relieved when she turned out not to be pregnant."

Danny couldn't believe what he'd just heard Sam say, but the person most shocked was Lacey. "Pregnant? What are you—?"

Sam wouldn't let her finish her question before adding, "Especially considering the pregnancy scare you and Danny had when you guys were 16."

There was no mistaking the betrayed look in Lacey's eyes. "You told her about that?" she said to Danny. She felt like slapping him, but she didn't want to make a scene.

"Lacey I didn't—" Danny said trying to plead innocence but it was no use. Lacey was too pissed to listen to any of his explanations.

"Julian I'm ready to go." She walked away with Julian following behind her.

Of course Danny wanted to go after her—to make her listen to him, but he still had a room full of people to entertain and about 30 minutes until the party was officially over.

And then there was Sam, who stood there acting like she'd done nothing wrong. He didn't know how she got the information, but he also didn't understand why she thought tonight would be a good time to bring it up. "When this party is over, you let the others handle clean up. I want you in my office, so you can explain to me what the hell just happened," Danny said before walking away.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	9. Chapter 9

"Lacey I know you're not sleep. I think we should talk about what happened tonight," Julian said as he lay in bed.

Of course she wasn't sleep. She'd been silently crying since they got into bed. She went to Danny's party hoping to take her mind off the little boy who had died. Instead she ended up feeling worse than she had before. "I'm awake. It doesn't mean I want to talk about what happened."

"You know it's not good to keep stuff bottled in."

"I don't need you to remind me of that and I also don't need you acting like my therapist. I want you to act like my fiancé and respect that I don't want to talk about." Lacey said firmly.

"Fine." he said in a defeated tone. "I think I know what will make you feel better." With one hand on her shoulder, he moved her to a flat position on the bed. He got on top of her and started kissing her on her face and neck.

"Julian. Not Tonight." She said as he continued to kiss her.

It was as if he wasn't listening to her. He kept kissing her even as she tried pushing him away with his hands. He grabbed her wrist and pinned them down so she had no control. She started wriggling under him and then she bit his lip.

He jumped off her and she jumped off the bed. "Lacey what the hell—you just bit me!" To say he was upset and surprised by her actions would've been an understatement.

Lacey watched as he wiped the blood from his lower lip. "I'm sorry—I just—I asked you to stop ok," she said feeling a little guilty. "And you pinned my arms—I had no control." She turned away from him.

"I was just trying to be with you—make you feel better."

"Sex doesn't make me feel better. Especially rough sex…You know that after what I—" Lacey stopped not wanting to bring that part of her past up.

"I kind of thought you were over that. You haven't been having nightmares and it was almost 3 years ago."

"How could I possibly ever be over something like that?" she said bewildered by his insensitivity.

"Dammit Lacey, I don't know what you want from me. You don't want to talk and when I try to make love to you, you fight it. You can't let Danny dictate every emotion you feel."

She looked at him confused by where his words were coming from. "What does that even mean?"

He walked over to her. "You know exactly what it means. When Sam said what she said, you looked at him like she told your deepest, darkest secret. I guess it is because I knew nothing about it. Why are you even surprised that he told Sam about what happened between the two of you. He had no problem abandoning you when you were 16."

She slapped him. "You know nothing about Danny or why he left."

"You're right. At least I didn't know about his aunt who committed suicide until I talked to your friend Archie tonight. Every time I think I know all there is to know about you, I find out something new. And no surprise, it's usually about Danny. " He grabbed some pants and put them on.

"Are you trying to act like I'm the problem? You tried your hardest to upstage Danny on his own birthday. We never discussed that we were going to give him the invitation tonight. Hell that was just a spare one we'd left in the car. You didn't even have the decency to write his name on it—you were too busy trying to throw it in his face."

"And whose fault is that?" Julian said now yelling. "If you didn't look like time stopped whenever you're around him, then I wouldn't have to get jealous." He walked over to her and grabbed her hand, bringing attention to her left ring finger. "You see this ring; I put it on your finger. Not Danny. I'm done trying to hold a candle to him, when it's obvious he's the one you want." He walked away, heading for the stairs.

She was scared of what _done _meantso she went after him. "What are you doing? Where are you going? It's almost midnight."

"I don't know where I'm going, but I can't be here right now."

She watched the car as he pulled out of the driveway and disappeared into the darkness. She didn't know where he was going. All she could think about were the words _I'm Done_.

…

After Danny had an emotionally charged conversation with Sam, he sent all his employees home for the night. He decided to clean up himself and as soon as he was done, he would head for the bar—alone. What he really wanted was to go over to Lacey's and explain why Sam knew what she did, but he knew that was far from a good idea. It turns out that Sam heard his whole conversation with Clara about her thinking she was pregnant. She claimed that she figured Lacey already knew and that she was trying to connect with Lacey on a similar level, since she'd had Jagger at a young age. Danny still didn't understand why she thought that would be an appropriate topic of conversation when she barely knew Lacey.

It was about 1 am when he walked into the bar and took the first seat by the door. Tonight, he'd be his own drinking buddy. He ordered a beer, which was always his choice. Sometimes he'd switch it up with a scotch, but he rarely drank. He knew that if handled irresponsibly; alcohol caused a lot of problems.

It didn't take long for a woman to come up to him and offer to buy him a drink, to which he politely refused. She was probably looking for a one night stand, and he was never that type of guy. Then again, he wasn't looking for a relationship either. His problem was that he wanted someone he couldn't have. Some days, he thought he'd wake up and Lacey would be at his door telling him the wedding wasn't happening— that she couldn't marry Julian because she wanted him as bad as he wanted her.

Before he knew it, he was dialing her number. She didn't answer, so he dialed again—and again. He didn't dare leave a voicemail. He convinced himself that she was asleep and not ignoring his calls, but he knew better. He decided one beer was enough and that'd he better head home. As he turned to his right, he saw Julian in a back booth with a woman who couldn't have been Lacey, because she didn't have the same long, full black hair. It was the woman who wanted to buy him a drink, and she was about to walk out of the bar with Julian. Danny owed it to Lacey to stop whatever he thought was about to happen between her fiancé and this woman.

He walked over and immediately took note that Julian was really drunk. The smell of his breath and the amount of glasses on the table proved him right. "Where are you two going?" Danny asked.

Julian was using the woman as a crutch, because he was too drunk to stand on his own. "Well if it isn't Danny Desai. Are you here to finish ruining my night?"

Danny didn't know that that meant. "No, clearly you've done that all on your own. Why aren't you at home with your fiancé?

The woman looked at Danny, clearly in shock of the word fiancé. "Fiancé—you're engaged? You said you just got out of a bad relationship." She looked at him, waiting for an explanation.

"I did. It happened about an hour ago. This is the guy to blame," he said pointing at Danny. "No surprise, he's here in my business. I figured you'd be in bed with Lacey. Let's see, I left her around midnight. It's almost 2; that would've given her plenty of time to come over and take off her clothes for you."

Danny didn't even think about his reaction. It took less than five seconds for his fist to connect with Julian's jaw. He watched as Julian fell to the ground and he didn't get up. He had the attention of almost everyone in the bar, but he didn't care. Julian could say whatever he wanted about him, but he would not disrespect Lacey.

He figured Julian was knocked out cold for a while and he turned to the woman. "I don't know what this man has told you, but he's definitely engaged to my friend." At least he thought that was still the case, but he wasn't take any chances. "So would you mind helping me take him to the car, so I can get him home?"

She looked at him as if to question the seriousness of what he asked and she walked away, leaving the bar. Luckily a man who'd worked behind the counter offered to help him with Julian.

As soon as they got Julian strapped into the passenger's side, Danny handed the guy $10 for helping him out. Danny tried dialing Lacey as he drove to her house, but she didn't answer. He knew she would be in for a surprise when he showed up at her door with Julian.

…

Lacey was surprised there wasn't a hole in the floor from all the pacing she was doing. It was 2:15 a.m. and she still hadn't heard from Julian. When she wasn't busy dodging Danny's calls—she was dialing Julian, whose phone went straight to voicemail. She had no idea where he was and it scared her.

She decided to camp out on the upstairs couch, because she was the only one home. Clara was still out with Greg, doing god knows what and her mom was out of town for a wedding. Julian wouldn't be able to get in without knocking and she had to come upstairs so she could hear the door. At this moment, she doubted that he was coming back, but just in case she'd be up when he did.

But before she knew it, she'd dozed off in those 10 minutes and she awoke up to banging at the door. She jumped off the couch and ran to get the door. "Julian I'm—" she stopped at the sight of the Danny.

"No just me. Come help me get your drunken fiancé out of the car."

She slid on some shoes and quickly caught up to Danny. She was surprised when she reached the car and saw Julian slumped over with a brush on his right cheek. "What happened to him?" she asked worriedly.

"Look I had to get him to leave the bar somehow. After he was done shouting insults, I punched him and got him to the car. You'd known had you not ignored all of my calls," he said as he pulled Julian out of the car.

She got on the other side and they carried him through the front door, with Lacey leading the way to the basement door. "I can take it from here. Thanks."

"Don't be ridiculous. He weighs more than you and you need help getting him down the stairs."

She was going to fight him, but she went forward not saying a word. Once getting down there, they sat Julian on the bed and Danny walked into the kitchen and living room part of the basement. Lacey took Julian's shoes off and pulled the cover over him. She walked over to where Danny was.

"Last time I was here, this was just a basement. I like what your mother's done with the place. It's like an apartment. Plenty of privacy… Do you and Julian plan on moving in here after you get married?"

"No—look it's late. You should go. It wouldn't be wise for you to be here when Julian wakes up. "

"Oh trust me. He isn't going to wake up. The amount of alcohol he's had will probably have him knocked out till the afternoon." Looking at her, he could tell his being there was stressing her out. "Can you just call me a cab so I can go pick up my car from the bar?"

Even though she was mad at him; she wouldn't let him take a cab back to the bar. "You brought him home—probably saved him from getting in a lot of trouble tonight. Come on, I'll take you."

"Ok sure," he said climbing the stairs after her. He knew getting hopeful because she offered him a ride was silly. She clearly expressed it as returning the favor, but all he wanted was a chance to explain what a happened at the party.

…

Lacey seemed intent on making this a silent car ride, but with at least 15 minutes until they'd reach the bar, he decided to use this time wisely. "So about what happened at the party; I need to explain all of it."

"No need. I don't need any explanations," she said in a firm voice.

This was Lacey attempting to block him out and keep them from talking about sensitive subjects. She had always been really guarded but usually he was one of the only people who could get her to tear down those walls. "Judging by your reaction tonight, I'd say you do need an explanation." He waited for her to deny it, but she didn't. "Last week Clara came to me and said that she thought she might be pregnant. She was scared and feeling alone, so she—"

"Came to you—out of all people? Why didn't she go to my mom for help or me? Why didn't she come to me?" she inquired hurtfully.

Danny heard the hurt in her voice. "It's not that she didn't want to, because she did. She was scared of disappointing you guys."

"Yeah well I'm not perfect and I wouldn't have judged her. I would've been there for her."

"She knows that. Trust me. Still, she didn't want to worry you guys if there turned out to be no baby, which is the case. I was supposed to go with her to the appointment Wednesday but I didn't make it. I got caught up in work; she stopped by the next day and told me what happened. Sam overheard us talking. Well, it's more like she was eavesdropping on our conversation. I told Clara not Sam that we thought you were pregnant when we were 16. It was in an attempt to let her know we all make mistakes and that she could talk to you. She said she would tell you about it this weekend."

"Well thanks for telling her that and being there for her. You two—are pretty close huh?" Lacey asked.

"Ever since I came back, she's been a good friend. I look out for her. I just don't want to see her get hurt—either of you," He said.

"I can take care of myself, but thanks for looking out for her. I worry sometimes with my mom working a lot and dad in Seattle. She needs a responsible adult she can trust. I'm glad it's you."

Danny smiled. "So you're not mad at me anymore?"

She kept her eyes on the road and said, "No. Not about that I'm not."

Danny knew she was referring to what happened between them in her car that day she stopped by the diner. "About that—I'm sorry. I shouldn't have cornered you in your own car and tried to force you to admit your feelings for me." He paused and asked, "Did you get the flowers I sent? I didn't see them at your house."

"I did. Thank you. They were nice and I appreciate the apology. I actually left the flowers in one of the kids' rooms at the hospital." She saw the disappointment on Danny's face. "I didn't take the flowers home, because I would've had to explain them to Julian and he's insecure about you enough as it is."

"Why would he be insecure about me?" Danny asked.

"He's just been in the dark about some things from our past. I just—it's not easy talking about you."

"I kind of got the feeling that day at the diner that he didn't know much about our relationship. He was too friendly. The way he acted at the party tonight definitely showed his jealousy."

"Yeah I'm sorry about that. That wasn't your invitation. I had no idea he was going to give that to you. I still—I still don't even know if you want to come. "

Truthfully, he didn't want to watch the woman he loved commit to somebody else, but he wouldn't miss an important day like her wedding. "Lacey of course I'm going to be there. I was at Jo's wedding and I'm not going to miss yours."

"You were there?" she said in disbelief. "But I didn't see you—I never saw you."

"Yes I was in the back. I left as soon as it was over, but I saw her before the wedding. I didn't know how you'd react to seeing me, so I didn't say anything and I asked Jo not to either."

She didn't know how she would've reacted either, and she suddenly felt weird knowing he was there the whole.

Silence ensued and she checked her watch.

"Are you worried he's going to wake up when you're not there? I'm telling you he's out until morning." Danny said surely.

"You sound so sure. Do you get drunk often?" she asked.

"Actually I don't. After we moved to Florida, Dad did a lot. My grandma would stay with me while my mom went to pick him up from bars. She got tired of it and after he lost his job, she made him go to rehab. He spent a whole year there. Now he and mom are happy. They're thinking about adopting actually."

"That's great Danny. I'm so glad they were able to get through it. I um— I never knew your dad was a hard drinker."

Danny pointed out the bar and Lacey drove into a parking space next to Danny's car. He turned to her and said, "He wasn't a hard drinker until we got to Florida and he couldn't let go of Aunt Tara's suicide. He needed an explanation why his sister would take her own life. He was upset about the damage it did to me and how it destroyed our connection. It was just hard for him to handle."

Lacey grabbed Danny's hand. "I know that must've been hard to deal with after what you went through but you're better now and so is he."

"Thank you and thanks for the ride," He said opening the car door.

"Thank you for tonight. I'll see you later."

"Goodnight Lacey." Danny got into his car and watched as Lacey drove away. While he wasn't able to get any details on the engagement, he realized he was the root of most of Julian and Lacey's arguments. While that didn't bring him much joy, he was happy to know Julian was observant of Lacey's feelings for him even if she was still in denial.


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for the long wait for an update. I hit a snag in writing (also college is keeping me busy) and decided to change things around so we can get to the maybe wedding sooner, but fun stuff before we get there. Ok last we left off you know Sam stuck her nose where it didn't belong and we had some Danny & Lacey as he brought a drunk Julian home. As always I appreciate your reviews & thanks for reading xo**

Lacey woke up the next morning and rolled over to find Julian still asleep. It was only 10' o clock, but this was the latest she'd ever seen him sleep since they'd been together. Danny was right; Julian would probably sleep for another hour or two. She decided she'd have breakfast while waiting for him to wake up. Downstairs, she had all the ingredients for the perfect omelet, except green peppers. She knew her mom would have some upstairs.

Once she got into the kitchen, she stopped short at the sight of Clara who was too busy dancing to the music in her ears to notice Lacey—that is until she turned around and saw her. "Oh Hey I'm making oatmeal. You want some?"

"No thanks. I'm actually about to make me and Julian something downstairs. I need Green peppers."

Clara opened the fridge and handed Lacey a half chopped green pepper. "Here you go. So how was the rest for the party yesterday?"

Lacey looked away. "The party was fine."

Clara looked at Lacey curiously. "You know there's this thing you do when you're lying. You look away. What happened at the party was it something with you and Danny or Julian and Danny? Did I miss the fight I predicted the first day you got here?"

Lacey had already decided that she was going to let Clara come to her about the pregnancy scare thing, but since they were alone she figured no better time than now to discuss it. "After you left, Sam said—she told me that you thought you were pregnant."

Clara looked at her in shock. "What? Where did she hear that from? Why would she tell you that?"

"Are you saying it's not true?" Lacey knew the answer, but she was testing Clara to see if she would lie.

"No I'm not—it's just that—" she looked away and turned back to her. "Yes, it's true ok. I already know that I should've been more careful, so you can spare me the judgment, especially since the same thing happened to you and Danny."

"I wasn't going to say anything. I'm just upset that I had to find out from Sam. It was really weird that she found it appropriate to bring it up to me at the party."

"I knew I didn't like her. And I'm going to stop by the diner to let her know just what I think about what she did. Danny too, he shouldn't have told her." Clara said clearly angry.

"Clara before you get too out of hand, you need to know that Danny didn't tell her anything. She said she overheard you guys talking about it. Well, more like eavesdropping. That's how she knew about you as well as me and Danny." Lacey explained.

"It makes sense—it was that Thursday after I came to talk to him, because he was supposed to go the doctors with me but he didn't make it. After I was coming out of his office Sam was standing right next to the door. And that's when she told me to make sure you come to the party." Clara eyes grew big. "Oh my god, that's why she wanted you at the party. To cause a rift between you and Danny, because she knew that you didn't know."

Lacey was confused. "I'm not sure how much truth there is to your theory, but she succeeded. I wasn't really mad about you and Danny not telling me about you. It was when she knew about me and Danny that made me angry. I just don't think that's something I want him to share with anybody else, besides you and Jo of course. And she already knows."

"But you've talked to Danny. He explained. Are you still mad at him?" Clara asked.

"No I'm not. I'm actually thankful that he's been there for you. I know how scared you must have been. I was a wreck for a week up until the minute the doctor told me I wasn't pregnant. I'm just glad you had someone." she said.

Clara sat her iPod on the table and walked over to her sister. "I was going to tell you Lacey. I just needed to know for sure first."

Lacey pulled her sister in for a hug and said, "I know. Just be safe next time—both of you."

"Trust me; we talked about it last night. No more close calls. We'll talk later; I have to meet Greg since it's his last day before he goes back to the camp."

"Ok, see ya later." Lacey grabbed her pepper and ran back downstairs. She was surprised to see a shirtless Julian coming out of the bathroom. "Julian—you're up?"

"You sound surprised. Did you try and poison me in my sleep so you could run off and be with Danny. That would explain this headache."

"Julian I don't want to talk about Danny. Nobody's trying to run off with anybody. Why don't you stop starting arguments that involve him? We should be arguing about what music we want playing at our wedding. You know the thing that's 6 weeks away."

"Yeah I know it. The question is—do you know it? Are you still planning on marrying me?"

"I never said otherwise, have I?"

"Yeah, well actions speak louder than words. And your actions say, you're wearing my ring while thinking about somebody else," he said while looking at her intensely, daring her to disagree with any part of what he just said.

Lacey couldn't argue with him on that. She thought about Danny way more than she should, but that's only because she was still getting used to having him in her life again. At least that's what she told herself. "Once again you're making this about him. You're the one we had to carry in here at 2 am after you stormed out of here saying you were done."

Julian interrupted her. "What are you talking about? Who carried me in here?" Where did I go?"

"Are you telling me you don't remember going into a bar and drinking yourself into oblivion? Why else do you think you have a headache and that bruise on your face."

He went to look in the mirror and said, "I hadn't noticed. What happened last night Lacey? The last thing I remember is arguing with you about Danny. When I woke and you weren't here, so I thought you slept in your room upstairs."

"No I was going to make breakfast. I figured you would need it after your night of drinking." She sat on the bed. "All I know is that you were having too much fun with alcohol and Danny was at the bar. He said he tried to get you to stop and you said something he didn't like, so he punched you. And that's when he brought here. You were unconscious when we had to carry to the bed."

He scratched his head. "I don't remember any of that. Lacey I'm sorry. I know how you feel about alcohol and you know I never get that drunk—ever. I don't know what to say."

"Julian it's okay," she said taking his hand in hers. "Listen I really don't want to fight about Danny anymore. Assuming you still want to marry me, you need to know that Danny is probably going to be in my life. He's my friend and we've been through a lot. He's also close to Clara and she trusts him. I need you two to try and get along."

He kissed her hand. "Of course I want to marry you, so yes I'll try. I'm sorry about the invitation thing. You should've been the one to give it to him."

"It's ok. What's done is done. Let's just not talk about it anymore. How about we make breakfast?" She said standing.

"Sounds like a plan," Julian said as he followed her into the kitchen.

…

Even though it turned out Danny didn't tell Sam about their conversation, Clara still wasn't going to let her eavesdropping go. She tried to embarrass her and Lacey and she did it on purpose. Clara didn't care who talked to her, she was about to give her some words of her own.

Walking into Johnny Cakes, she saw Sam heading for Danny's office and Clara rushed after her. Once she got there, Danny and Sam were seated with Jagger. Of course, she didn't want to make a scene in front of the little boy, but by no means would she abandon her plans to put Sam in her place.

"Clara," Danny said clearly surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm actually here to see her." she said while sneering at Sam.

Sam already knew what this was about and she knew the confrontation would get heated. "Hey Jagger, can you take your videogame outside. Sit at one of the tables and I'll be right out to get you."

"Ok mommy," Jagger said while smiling at Clara as he walked out.

"Listen Clara, I'm sorry I—"

Clara wasn't trying to hear anything from Sam. "What exactly are you sorry for— Eavesdropping, getting me to bring my sister to the party so you can play mind games or telling my business." She took a breath and continued, "I'd really like to know what you thought you were going to accomplish last night."

"Clara why don't you calm down, I've already talked to her," Danny said trying to squash the argument before it got out of control.

"Danny, you know that I love you like a brother and you know me. With that said, you know I'm not going to calm down. I know exactly why she did what she did. She's jealous of your relationship with Lacey and she was trying to make her think we were going behind her back."

"Danny that' not true. I've already told you that I was just trying to find some common ground with her." Sam said hoping Danny would believe her.

"That's BS and you know it. You can't find common ground with Lacey by using me because I don't like you. Make this the last time you find yourself concerned with any of my business and that includes my sister or next time, my words won't be so nice." Clara said clearly pissed. She turned to Danny, who was definitely surprised to see this side of Clara. "Look Danny, I'm not trying to make you choose sides. Things can be the same way they've always been, but just don't talk about me with her."

"I've never and will never," he said understandingly.

"That's good to know. I'll see you Later Danny." Clara flashed a menacing look in Sam's direction and exited the office.

"Well that was something. Maybe you should talk to Lacey about her sister's attitude and being disrespectful to adults."

Danny honestly wanted to put this whole thing behind them. "Sam I'm not going to do that. She's right, you shouldn't have eavesdropped and you definitely shouldn't have approached Lacey with what you heard."

"Wow, talk about taking sides."

Sam was really pissing him off and he started to wonder how much truth there was too Clara's theory. "Nobody's taking sides. I said the exact same thing to you last night. Look, just stay out of Lacey and Clara's way and they'll stay out of yours."

"Gladly, if you're done chastising me, Can I get back to work?" she said clearly annoyed.

"Sure." Danny didn't understand Sam's attitude when she was the cause of this mess in the first place. He wondered if she felt threated by Lacey's new presence and if Lacey was right about Sam liking him.


	11. Chapter 11

On Tuesday, Lacey woke with the hope that she would finally find her wedding dress. She was glad to have her mom and sister there with her. She'd been dress shopping with Julian's cousin Ashley twice already, but she felt like Ashley was judgmental of every dress she chose. When Lacey found the dress, she thought it'd be nice to have people around who actually praised her beauty in it.

She eventually found a dress in a nice bridal shop in Soho. That was the last official undone thing that needed to be done before the wedding. Everything was getting real—in a couple weeks she'd be getting married.

Her mom pulled her out of her thoughts as she ate lunch with her and Clara. "Sweetie, aren't you happy you finally found a dress?"

"Of course I'm happy mom. It's just all getting real. I know it sounds silly but I'm nervous. Maybe I'll trip and fall or something." Lacey admitted, though those weren't her only fears.

"Don't worry, if you fall I'll laugh, but I'll help you up." Clara said while smiling.

"Clara—nobody's falling. You're just experiencing pre-wedding jitters. Don't worry, it's very common," Judy assured her daughter.

"Mom's right, I'm pretty sure you won't fall," Clara said reassuringly.

"I still can't believe my baby's getting married. It seems like it just yesterday your dad and I brought you home from the hospital." Judy said getting teary eyed.

Lacey smiled. "Speaking of dad, have you two talked?"

"Not lately. There isn't much to say," Judy said without making eye contact with either of her daughters.

"Mom, I know you're still hurt. I just don't want any drama when he comes to town for the wedding. He'll more than likely bring Leo and—"

"He most certainly will not. Leo doesn't know you and I'm sure you don't want a stranger at your wedding."

"I just want dad to be happy and for him to feel like he's still a part of this family, because he is—no matter what his sexuality it."

"I know that Lacey. So while we're on the subject of wedding guests and their plus ones, I'm assuming you'll be ok with Danny bringing that Sam from the diner. Those two seem pretty close."

Where that came from, Lacey didn't know. Her mom hadn't talked much about Danny since she'd been home and it was weird that she was all of a sudden bringing him up. "Sure Danny can bring whoever he wants. I'm not worried about him and neither should you… or you," she said pointing her fork at Clara. She tried to imagine Danny sitting with Sam at the wedding and her food started to come back up. She wasn't ok with that. She suddenly prayed that he would choose to come alone.

* * *

Because she finished her dress shopping early, Lacey decided to stop by the hospital. After Lucas' passing, she was asked if she was sure she wanted to continue and without hesitation she answered yes. She couldn't abandon Lanie and the other kids. She also had to prepare herself for what her life would be like as a doctor. She as well as any doctor knew you couldn't save them all.

Walking into Lanie's room, Lacey thought she was resting, but Lanie perked up at the sight of Lacey. "Lacey! What are you doing here? My parents said you didn't have to come today."

"I know. I actually found my wedding dress sooner than I thought, so I just wanted to stop by and check on you guys."

"I'm doing great. You found your dress? Can I see a picture of it?" Lanie asked.

"Yes sure." Lacey pulled her phone out of her purse and scrolled through the many pictures Clara took of her. "Here—here's a good one."

"It's really pretty!" Lanie exclaimed. "So you've made up your mind. You're getting married—to Julian."

"Yes I am," she said without hesitation.

"That's good for you. I'd very much like to meet him. Maybe you could bring him one day."

"I will do that. Have you finished your book?" Lacey asked, quickly changing the subject.

"I have about 3 more chapters. The bride has returned back from her trip and I think she's about to call off the wedding."

"Oh well, that's unfortunate." Lacey said.

"Not really. I believe it's better for her to not keep stringing him along. If she doesn't really love him, then this wedding shouldn't happen."

Once again Lacey felt like she was the character in Lanie's book. She did love Julian but she sometimes wondered was it enough to marry him and spend the rest of her life with him.

Just then Lanie's parents walked in with her brother and they seemed as surprised to see Lacey as Lanie was.

"Hello Lacey, I'm surprised to see you," Lanie's mom said.

"I know you said I didn't have to come Mrs. Thompson, but I really wanted to stop by and check on the everyone."

"Call me Dana and I understand. We're glad to see you. You know my husband Richard. This is Lanie's little brother Nathan."

Lacey shook Nathan's hand. "Hello Nathan, I'm Lacey. How old are you?"

He smiled and moved closer to his mom, who said, "I'm sorry, he's a little shy, especially with other girls and women. He's 7 years old."

"It's ok—I understand. I'll leave you guys alone." She turned to Lanie and said, "I'll see you guys later."

"No you should stay. We'd prefer it if you stayed," Richard said looking at his wife. "I'm sure Lanie would like it and we could get to know each other better." He paused adding, "Unless you have somewhere to be then—"

"No I can stay," Lacey said taking her seat. At first she felt weird about interrupting their family time, but in a way, she felt really close to these people at the hospital.

For the next couple of hours, she learned a lot more about the Dawson family. Nathan saw that his sister was comfortable with Lacey, so he opened up to her a little. Lacey learned that he like to read, play baseball, cook, and play video games. He reminded her so much of Danny when they were little and she became instantly annoyed that everything always came back Danny. No matter how hard she tried to not think about him, she always ended up doing so.

**Next: We'll get Dacey interactions and we'll hear from Jo. Thanks for reading and reviews, xo!**


	12. Chapter 12

The following morning, Lacey sat downstairs eating breakfast with Julian, who expressed how happy he was that she finally found a dress. "I was beginning to think you were going to walk down the aisle in jeans and a t-shirt," he said joking.

"Very funny…I was just waiting for the special dress that I had to have. I can't wait for you to see it."

"I'm looking forward to it. Listen, I want to talk to you about my dad's company."

The moment she dreaded was here. Breathing in, she said, "I'm listening."

"I know the whole reason I got a degree was to explore options outside of the Ashford hotel business, but I've been working with him a lot and not only does he want me to come on full time, but he wants me to be the head of the out of country resorts that are opening up. It's going to take up most of my time for the rest of this summer, but I want to do it."

"Julian to be honest, I'm not surprised that you want your join you dad's business. You grew up in it—it's all you know. I just want you to do whatever makes you happy, not what your father wants you to do."

"I promise you I'm joining this company only because it's what I want. I just want to make sure you're ok with all of the time I'll be spending at the office and overseas on some weekends. This project is really important to me and I'd love to know that I have your support."

"Yes you have my support. If this is want you want, then it's what I want for you as well." She wasn't crazy about the idea yet but she could probably learn to love the business as much as he did.

"Thanks Sweetheart, it means a lot." He continued eating and said, "Do you need a ride to the hospital?"

"Actually I'm not going in today. I'm going to stay in today and maybe go get lunch at Johnny Cakes."

"Why do you have to have lunch there? I could take you somewhere nicer or you could come into the office with me today," Julian said, clearly unnerved by the idea of her being near Danny.

"Johnny Cakes is in walking distance and I like the food there. I thought we discussed your being ok with Danny. You can't get mad every time I mention him," she said full of frustration.

"I'm not mad. I just—you know what never mind. You're completely right. I promised to be ok about Danny and that's a promise I intend to keep. I enjoyed breakfast, but I have to get to the hotel. I'll see you later for dinner ok." He kissed her on the forehead and left.

…

Lacey arrived at Johnny Cakes and headed straight for the register to order her food. She hadn't seen Danny, but if he was in his office, she had preferred he stay there. She took a seat in the booth and sat on the side facing the entrance with her back to rest of the diner. She figured it'd be hard to spot her that way, but in reality she knew Danny would recognize her from any distance because that was just him, he noticed her—always.

As she predicted she was joined by someone, but it wasn't Danny. It was Sam. "Hey Lacey, If you're here for Danny, he's not here right now," Sam said sounding like his secretary.

"I'm not here for Danny. I'm here food. That is the purpose of this place—to provide food. I'm just a customer." Lacey said, clearly annoyed by Sam's assumption that she was here for Danny.

"Ok then. Well, I guess I should take this time to apologize for what happened at Danny's party. I shouldn't have eavesdropped on your sister's private conversation with Danny and I shouldn't have said anything to you. It was wrong and I'm sorry."

"I forgive your actions, but I don't forgive the reasons you did them for. I know you like Danny and you might be jealous of what we had, but that's just it—what we had is in the past. If you like him, then you're better off just telling him how you feel."

"I'm not going to do that. If I've learned anything about Danny since we've been friends and the past couple of weeks is that he's never going to feel that way about me and I'm ok with that. He's my sons godfather and I don't want to mess that relationship up." She paused and added, "Besides, he's in love with you."

She breathed in frustration. "You know what I'm so tired of everyone telling me that. What do you think I can do about it?" Afraid that Sam would suggest something crazy; she added, "You know what don't answer that." She heard order being called and she said, "Thanks for apologizing. I have to go."

Lacey grabbed her food and left the diner, running right into Danny once she was outside.

"Someone's in a rush. You ok?" he asked, noticing her agitated mood.

"I'm fine. I just came here for lunch and I ran into Sam and—"

"Did she upset you? I'm sorry Lace. I told her to stay out of your way. I'm sorry. I'll handle it," he said apologetically.

"No Danny. She apologized. Everything's fine. No need to start anymore drama. Please."

He smiled in relief. "Good. I'm glad we could put that behind us. Where's Julian today?"

"He's at the office. He's taking on a bigger role in the company—full time actually," she said resentfully.

He noticed the unhappiness in her voice. "That's a good thing right?"

"He's happy about it and I don't know what to feel right now. I know it sounds horrible, but I wanted him to do something outside of the company. His dad built this company because he likes power and money. Julian told me his mom started an affair with his dad and left her sick husband. I don't want to be someone who cares about my husband buying me expensive things and —" She stopped, realizing she was sharing too much. "I shouldn't be talking about this with you. I have to go," she said walking away.

"Lacey wait." He ran after her and grabbed her hand, holding it for only a second as she yanked it away. "I'm hosting Johnny Cakes' first kids cooking class this Friday at Shane's Restaurant over on Woodall Street. A lot of our regular customers are bringing their kids and I was wondering if you'd like to come."

She smiled, thinking of all the times her, Jo and Danny baked cookies at her house. "That sounds like it'd be fun, but I can't. I have to volunteer at the hospital."

"I understand. But if you change your mind, here's a flyer with the address and time. Even if you could stop by for an hour—it'd be great," he said hoping she'd at least agree to think about it.

"We'll see," she said smiling. "I'll see you later."

"Hey," He said catching her attention once more. "You know that you could never be that person who cares about expensive things. You're not a materialistic person and I'm sure Julian appreciates that about you," Danny said modestly.

Lacey smiled knowing he meant every word. "Thanks Danny."

Danny watched her cross the street and walk in the direction of her home. Each time she left him, he felt a little bit more privileged than before to have known her in the ways that he did. He was saddened by the realization that her wedding day was quickly approaching, which meant that her presence in Green Grove would be no more. She'd go back to D.C. as Mrs. Ashford, become a successful doctor, have his babies and grow old with him. Day by Day his envy of Julian grew, because he'd live the life he always wanted.

* * *

As Lacey finished up her lunch, she heard her computer beeping and she opened it to a Skype call from Jo. "Hey Jo, what's up?"

"Nothing much, did you forget we were supposed to Skype today? I called you earlier and got no answer."

"I'm sorry, I completely forgot. It must've been when I went out to grab lunch."

Jo noted the stress in her voice and she didn't look like most brides did at this stage in their engagement. "You're not one to forget a lot. What wrong Lacey? You don't look so good."

"I'm just under a lot of stress and it's just all getting to me. I'll be fine," she assured Jo.

"Does any of your stress have to do with Danny, because you know I'm the one person understands. And you also know that what we discuss stays between us."

Lacey knew her words to be true. She shared a lot with Jo, especially in regards to her relationship with Danny and she knew that she never told a soul, least of all Danny. "I don't know. Like, it's not just him, but everyone. Clara and Sam, even Julian has told me Danny still has feelings for me. It's overwhelming, because I worked so hard to let go of the idea of there ever being a Danny and me after he stayed away from Green Grove so long. And now, it seems like the easiest thing to do would be to break off this engagement and go back to Danny but it's harder than it sounds."

"I know I'm one of those people who constantly tells you that he's still in love with you and I'm sorry if it stresses you out, but if you're entertaining the idea of going back to him, then maybe it's time you call off this engagement. If you're worried about what people will think, then you shouldn't. It's your life and your happiness that's at stake here. You've got to do what's best for you."

"That's what I'm doing. The best thing for me is to marry Julian. I can't take these little moments between Danny and I too serious, because all it really chalks up to being is two people with a complicated past getting reacquainted. We're a different Lacey and Danny. What we had stays in the past," she said, trying hard to especially convince her own self that the last statement was true. She said it twice today and it still felt odd saying it, like she was committing a sin.

"I trust your decisions and I'm excited to be the maid of honor in your wedding. You're my best friend and I'm always going to want the best for you," said Jo.

"That means a lot. Thank you. I really can't wait to you get here. Where's Rico?"

"2 weeks and we'll be there. He's at work. I got the day off, so I'm having a lazy day," Jo said laughing.

For the next hour, they talked about nothing but the wedding and she tried to convince Lacey to have a bachelorette party, but she wouldn't budge. Julian was going to Vegas with his friends, but Lacey didn't feel a need especially since she didn't drink. As bad as it sounded, she just wanted the wedding to be over already.


	13. Chapter 13

Lacey checked her phone continuously as she walked with Julian inside the airport. She'd been thinking about Danny's invitation to the cooking class he was hosting ever since he'd asked her to come.

"Someone's in a rush. You keep checking your phone. Is there somewhere you have to be?" Julian asked anxious for an answer.

Lacey felt the heat rushing to her face, because she wasn't aware that Julian had been watching her as they were walking.. "I'm just checking to see if they still need me at the hospital. I'm going straight there after I drop you off here."

"Ok. Look, there's my father," Julian said pointing towards the check- in desk.

"Hello son," Mr. Ashford said with a smile. "And you Lacey my soon to be daughter in law looking beautiful as always," he said kissing her on the cheek.

"Thanks Mr. Ashford. You all set for the flight."

"Yes. Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"

"Dad it's no use, I've tried convincing her, besides she's got her job at the hospital."

"I would love to join you guys, but since I'm in my last few weeks of volunteering, I want to spend as much time with the kids as I can." Lacey really didn't want to go on the trip and had she not had been volunteering this summer, she would made up some other excuse.

"Well they'll be plenty of opportunities for world travel when you become Mrs. Ashford. I'm sure as his wife you'll be joining him on multiple business trips," said Mr. Ashford.

Before Lacey could respond, Julian stepped in. "Actually dad, she's going to be busy with medical school, so I don't how much traveling will be possible, but don't worry we'll figure something out," he said. "Anyways we should get going. I'll talk to you later sweetheart," he said kissing her on the forehead.

"Have a good flight. You two have fun," Lacey said. She checked her phone again. Only about an hour and a half until the cooking class started. She had already decided she'd be stopping by, but only after she checked in at the hospital.

…

With no traffic on the highway, Lacey arrived at the hospital in 15 minutes and she figured if she sat with Lanie for a good hour and a half, she could make it to Danny's cooking class just after it started. No way was she going to show up at the exact time that it started. She wasn't trying to look eager to be there, even though she was excited about going.

Upon entering Lanie's room, she was surprised to see her mom and dad there and they'd even brought Nathan. She'd immediately wondered if something was wrong—if Lanie's conditioned had worsened. "Hello guys, I'm surprised to see you here. Is everything ok with Lanie," Lacey said looking over at Lanie as she slept.

"Everything's fine," Richard assured Lacey. "We had planned to come see her for a while before I took Dana into the city for the play and dinner, but our babysitter for Nathan called and cancelled so we're not going to go."

Lacey knew how much they were looking forward to their time alone. She also knew how expensive tickets to a play could be. "I could stay here with Nathan while you go to the play," she suggested. "I mean I wouldn't mind if you guys and of course Nathan was comfortable with it."

Dana shot Lacey a shocked look. "But you must have plans—somewhere to be. We couldn't ask you to stay here. And besides I'm not sure Nathan would want to stay here either. He's at that age where he likes to be busy."

Of course she had intentions of going over to Danny's cooking class, but she was needed at the hospital. Suddenly she got an idea. "Nathan told me he likes cooking. My friend owns a diner and he's teaching a cooking class today. I was thinking about dropping by. Maybe I could take Nathan and come back to sit with Lanie." She watched the hesitation on their faces and continued, "I know how much you guys need the night off. I'd like to help you guys," she said modestly.

Dana looked to her husband. "Richard we have some really good seats and we trust Lacey with Lanie so things should be any different with Nathan. "

He looked at his wife and said, "Ok, but you have to let us pay you. Can I give you gas money or something?"

Something her parents had always taught her when she was young was to do nice things for people without expecting something in return. "It's not necessary. I want to do this for you guys."

"Thank you so much," Dana said as she hugged Lacey. "Your friend—I'm sure he's responsible. Can we trust him to take care of our son?"

Lacey smiled understanding their questioning of Danny's character. After all, they knew nothing about him. "Trust me; he's the best person I know. He has a godson who he adores and if I had kids I'd trust him with their life. I assure you he'll take care of Nathan. There will also be lots of other kids there."

"Sounds good to me," said Richard. "We trust you and if you say he's responsible then we believe you," he said squeezing Dana. "I don't know how to thank you."

"You can actually enjoy yourselves tonight," she said smiling.

Lanie's parents agreed to stay with Lanie while Lacey drove Nathan to the cooking class. She wondered what Danny's reaction would be when she showed up at the restaurant.

…

She managed to get to the restaurant five minutes before the class started. As soon as they got inside, Nathan saw the bathroom near the entrance and he went inside to use it. Lacey stood near the entrance while looking at the bulletin board of current events at Shane's restaurant and as she turned around, she jumped at the sight of Danny. "Jesus Danny you scared me," she said slapping him on the arm.

"I saw you coming in. I'm glad you decided to stop by," he said smiling.

"I have my reasons," she said. "But I'm not here for me. I can't stay."

"Well, why are you here then?" he asked curiously.

Nathan came out of the bathroom and Lacey walked around Danny to get to him. "Danny, this is Nathan." Lacey turned to Nathan and said, "Nathan, this is my friend Danny. He's going to be teaching you some of his skills so you can be a pro in the kitchen. Are you ready?"

"Yes where do I go Mr. Danny?" he said clearly eager to start cooking.

He pointed toward Jagger, "There's my godson Jagger. Introduce yourself to him and tell him his uncle Danny said the three of us are going to be partners today."

Nathan smiled and shook his head in understanding. He ran off in the direction of Jagger.

Lacey waited for Danny to turn back towards her. "He's the brother of one of the patients at the hospital. Their parents had a special evening planned and the babysitter backed out at the last minute. I offered to watch him and they didn't think he'd want to stay in the hospital all evening. I remembered him telling me he liked to cook and this was the first place I thought of. Do you mind keeping an eye on him?"

"Of course not Lace. I'm happy to help you out," he said. "I just really wish you could stay."

"I would but they're waiting for me to get back to the hospital. I don't want to leave Lanie alone. You have my number. Call me if anything happens."

"Will do Lace. Don't worry. We'll be fine." he assured her. "I'll make sure he has a good time."

"Thanks a lot for doing this," she said before quickly exiting the restaurant. Danny always had this way about him that made her want to stay around him, but that she knew, was a recipe for trouble.

After Lacey arrived back to the hospital, Lacey took Lanie to the maternity ward to see the babies. Lanie was as smitten with babies as Lacey was which is why she didn't mind looking at the babies either. Around 2 hours later, they were finally able to find a good movie on TV to watch. The doctor had checked in with seemingly important news, but he opted to wait until Lanie's parents were present to share the news. Whatever it was, Lacey hoped it was something good. Lanie was in good spirits physically and she knew bad news would really set her back.

They were watching Shrek—the opening credits were just coming on when Danny and Nathan walked into the room. She knew the cooking class was only supposed to last for about 2 hours, but she told Danny to call her when it was over. Why did he have to come here?

"Danny, what are you guys doing here? I told you to call me and I'd comeback for Nathan," she said confused.

"I know but gas is so high these days, I figured I'd help you out. You're welcome," he said smiling. "Besides, Nathan's been telling me a lot about his sister and I wanted to meet her." He walked over to Lanie and introduced himself. "Hello Lanie, my name is Danny. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Lanie sat up in her bed and smiled. "Hi Danny, it's nice to meet you. Lacey's told me a lot about you too."

"Oh has she?" said Danny.

Lacey felt her cheek turning red. "Actually it was just the basic stuff—like how we used to be really good friends and how you own a diner with really good food," she said nervously. Changing the subject she turned to Nathan to ask him how he liked the cooking class.

"It was really fun," he said enthusiastically. "I made cupcakes for you and Lanie. I ate mom and dads in the car," he said laughing.

"Well that's ok. We won't tell if you won't. I'm sure they'll have some good dessert while they're out tonight."

"When will they be back?" asked Nathan.

"They'll probably be about an hour or two more. Coincidentally, that's the timespan of Shrek, which is on TV now. I'm going to walk Danny out; I'll be right back guys."

"No, why can't Danny stay?" inquired Nathan.

"Because I'm sure he has other things to do. Right Danny..?" Lacey said looking at him.

"That may be true but who can pass up something as tempting as Shrek. I'll stay."

"Yes, Now I'm not the only guy in the room," exclaimed Nathan.

"No you're not," said Lacey. She wondered if her annoyed attitude at Danny's lingering presence was visible. She didn't want him here. This was the one place she came to escape her thoughts off him but even that was proving to be impossible.

* * *

The movie had finished but Nathan had fallen asleep half way into the movie. He was lying on the bed with his sister while Danny and Lacey were sitting in two chairs next to one another.

Danny felt the awkwardness in the room and he announced that it was time that he get going. Just as he came to his feet, Dana and Richard were walking in.

Dana came over to Lanie and kissed her. "Hello sweetheart. I see you've got quite the visitors today."

"Mom, Dad this is Lacey's friend Danny. He's the one who taught the cooking class. He brought Nathan back to hospital and we all decided to watch a movie until you got here."

"That sounds like fun." She walked over to Danny and extended her hand as she introduced herself. "My name is Dana Thompson and this is my husband Richard. It's good to meet you."

"Likewise…you have some good kids. Nathan's a pro at baking already. I don't remember being that good at his age," said Danny.

"Yeah well he's always in the kitchen with me or playing baseball with his dad. Those are his favorite things to do."

"It looks like you kept him busy today." Richard chimed in, referring to the fact that Nathan was sound asleep. "Thanks a lot."

"Yeah he had fun. No problem. I'm glad Lacey could bring him by."

Before anyone else could talk, Lanie's doctor entered the room. "Mr. and Mrs. Thompson I'm glad to see you before I leave my shift. I'd like to talk to you guys about Lanie's heart condition. Would you liketo step outside?"

Lacey felt her heart drop. She wasn't a doctor yet, but it sounded like bad news was coming their way.

"No, whatever it is—just say it." Dana said, expecting the worse.

"Actually Doc, before you say anything, I should go. This is a private family matter." says Danny.

He only moved a step before Lacey caught his hand. He turned to face her and noticed that she was near tears. She was scared, but he still didn't feel it was right to be there. He mouthed the words, _I'll be right outside. _He smiled at the Thompsons and left.

Upon Danny's exit, the doctor closed the door and went on with the news. "As I was saying, the news I have is about your daughter's heart." He paused for a minute and went on, "As of earlier today, a donor heart became available for you daughter and we'd like to schedule a heart transplant immediately."

Before Lacey knew it, she was running over to Lanie showering her with hugs and kisses. Dana and Richard were busy hugging each other and thanking the doctor over and over, who expressed how happy he was for the family. He told them that he'd be back tomorrow to talk more about the procedure.

Once he left, Dana and Richard couldn't stop giving their daughter hugs and kisses and by now Nathan had been informed about the good news by Lacey.

Lacey remembered that Danny had been waiting outside and she wanted to tell him the good news. She told Lanie she'd be right back. She expected to find him not to far from the room, but he was nowhere in sight. She went to the end of the hall and saw him coming off the elevator.

"I tried to go find you guys some tea or coffee, but It didn't taste right to me so I—"

He stopped talking as soon as Lacey wrapped her arms around him hugging tightly for a while before letting go. "I'm sorry—I thought you left."

"I said I wasn't going anywhere," he said. "What happened? Is Lanie going to be ok?"

Lacey smiled. "She's going to be more than ok. She's getting the heart transplant she needs. She's going to have the surgery and be ok."

"That's fantastic Lace. I'm really glad to hear it." Danny said smiling.

There was an awkward silence until Lacey spoke. "Thanks for staying even though I didn't want you too," she said.

"No problem," he said in a low voice.

"I should get back to Lanie's room. Thanks for everything."

"No problem. Before you go, would you like to have dinner with me at my place tomorrow?" he asked, hopeful that she'd say yes.

She looked at him, shocked by his invitation. Was he trying to take advantage of her mood at the moment? She didn't know, but she did have this burning desire to say yes and that's exactly what she did. "Yes I'll have dinner with you…Just text me your address and the time. I'll see you tomorrow," she said before walking away.

Walking back to Lanie's room, Lacey let in soak in that she was going to be alone with Danny tomorrow at his place. She realized she was overanalyzing the situation. It was completely possible for two friends to hang out alone without anything happening. She just hoped that same possibility applied to her and Danny.

**We'll see if any funny business happens between the two. I don't want Lacey to be that girl who cheats but at the same time you can't fight certain feelings. As always, Thanks for R&R xo**


End file.
